A ship captain’s answered prayer;
Post-Easter Ponderings

An Easter to Remember
A ship captain’s answered prayer

Much like Pilate did to Jesus,
pirates on the open sea
sentenced Captain Richard Phillips
to unjust indignity.

He was kidnapped, held for ransom.
Satan’s minions laughed and cheered
while an anxious world prepared for
what might happen as we feared.

Doomed to die inside a lifeboat,
Captain Phillips bravely prayed.
Then the miracle we hoped for…
Life trumped death on Easter Day.

Post-Easter Ponderings
Revisiting a controversial holiday

Christ is risen!

But isn’t evil alive and well as well?
How else can we explain the living Hell
that singes our hope
of sweet dreams for our kids?

A world of Somali pirates,
Sunday school predators,
immigration center snipers
and Wall Street extortionists.

A world of evil, hate and greed
where seeds of corruption
and self-seeking pleasure
are fertilized and germinated
in the soil of an unrestrained society.

Christ is risen!

But is He risen in deeds?
Only to the degree we (His Body)
don work clothes
and work out our salvation
will His resurrection
be made aware
to those who don’t really care
about the holiday just past.

Only as we respond
to the felt needs of the lonely,
the marginalized,
and the needy
will our skeptical world
bury its doubts
and give the Church
a second chance

Christ is risen!

But will we rise to the occasion
to raise His standard of righteousness
in our circle of relationships,
in the public square
and in the oval office?

Will we dare to stand up
among those who have considered us
down for the count?

Will we get up
and surprise the crowd
with a life-giving response
to those who sought to do us in?

Will we show up
in places where the power of God
has been written off
as irrelevant and ineffectual?

Will we turn up
the thermostat of love
in a culture that has defined Christ-followers
as cold, heartless and legalistic?

Christ is risen!

But do we treat Him more like
a rosin bag on a pitcher’s mound
than the Lord of life?

He can’t simply be a quick grab
enabling us to get a firm grip
on our own game
as we proceed to
pitch a new proposal at work,
throw our weight around at church
or wind up in some bases-loaded dilemma.

He insists on being the manager of our lives
who signals from the dugout that
(because of Easter)
it’s a whole new ballgame.
A dugout no longer occupied by a dead body
but by living proof that Resurrection Sunday
can’t just be celebrated once a year.

Easter is a holiday that impacts
every day of every week of every year.
And to anyone who has ears to hear,
it is a day that has risen to new heights.

Christ is risen!
He is risen, indeed!