Dear Church Family,
               It always surprised me that the popular author John Updike, who penned those rather irreverent “Rabbit” novels dealing with the whims and vagaries of modern life, also wrestled so profoundly with the nature of faith.  In his poetry, especially, he reveals that he was not one to make the claims of Easter easy or logical. 
               Consider this portion of his “Seven Stanzas at Easter”:
                              Make no mistake if he rose at all
                              it was as his body;
                              if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit,
                                             The amino acids rekindle.
                              the church will fall.
 
                              It was not as the flowers,
                              each soft Spring recurrent;
                              it was not as his Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the
                                             Eleven apostles;
                              it was as his flesh: ours….
 
                              Let us not mock God with metaphor,
                              analogy, sidestepping transcendence;
                              making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded
                                             Credulity of earlier ages;
                              let us walk through the door…
               
                              Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
                              for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
                              lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed
                                             by the miracle
                              and crushed by remonstrance. 
 
               This Sunday, we’ll be looking at that extraordinary, logic defying claim of Jesus’ resurrection, which is the basis for our Easter Joy.  The sermon is “The Last Laugh” and the texts are Jeremiah 31:1-6 and John 20:1-18.
 
               By the time we meet at 10 a.m. some of the congregation will  have trekked up the hill to meet a 6:21 a.m. sunrise and have enjoyed breakfast following the early service. 
 
               Have a blessed Easter and see you in church.
 
Rich