“Alleluia“, by Rev. Mike Holly
There is a word that we haven’t used in worship since Ash Wednesday. That word is “Alleluia.” Today, Easter Sunday, we can again proclaim and sing the word “Alleluia.” You might wonder why we refrain from using this word, which is best translated as “Praise Yahweh,” or “Praise God.” The main reason is that the historical understanding of this praise word is that it is sung by choirs of angels praising what God has done. During Lent, we turn our attention not to what God has done, but to what God will do in and through the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus. We wait with anticipation both to see what God will do in the Scriptures we read, as well as to be able to sing with the angels praising God for what He has done.
Easter Sunday is the opportunity to celebrate God’s love and goodness. “If God is for us, who can be against us,” we read in Scripture. We celebrate that God did the miraculous thing, and raised Jesus from the dead on the third day for our sake. At the empty tomb which we have been journeying toward, we gather each and every year to heap praises and alleluias to God. Amen!
~Mike Holly
The Word
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
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