A Time of Refreshment

In the second chapter of the Book of Acts, Luke tells the story of the emerging disciples of Jesus and how Peter was emboldend by God's Spirit addressing the crowd about Jesus' Lordship and Resurrection.  This was, as Peter said, "so that times of refreshing may come..." (v. 20).  This passage is one of the readings for the Thursday after Easter and yesterday it deeply grabbed me.  I love it when that happens.  All of a sudden I am ambushed by God's Word.  Bang!  "Times of refreshment!"

Is this not it?  For me, this time of Easter is this "time of refreshing" that Peter talked about.  As Sabine and I have journeyed nearly two and one-half years through the darkness of cancer we are now joyfully experiencing the result of a positive cell transplant -- a "time of refreshment."

Each year at Christmas time I hear the words of the German mystic, Meister Eckardt in my ears reminding me that the birth of Jesus means nothing unless he is born again in my heart.  Unless Christ is born in us Christmas means nothing -- might as well give it back to Rudolph and Santa.  And on Easter, unless we raised with Christ, we remain dead.  We turn our backs on that "time of refreshment."

I hope you, too, have both felt the birth of Christ in your heart and have experienced the power of God raising Jesus from the dead.  I was emotionally dead that time in January, 2008 when Sabine was diagosed with cancer -- and yet here we both are raised again.

Brothers and sisters, that is the Christian journey, we enter into little deaths all of the time and the hope we have is our being raised again just as Jesus was.  This raising again, each time, can be for us a "time of refreshment."  Alleluia, Christ is Risen!  Enjoy and give thanks for this refreshment!