For twenty years I began Sunday morning services with the words, He Is Risen! Tomorrow should be no exception, but instead of leading a congregation, we lead our own hearts to rejoice.

This is the highest day on the Christian calendar it could be argued. This is a day that changes everything. It’s why the Christian church meets on Sunday, not on the Sabbath. It’s why every Sunday is a remembrance of the resurrection and should be part of what identifies us as people of hope. It is why we are resurrection people.

I think it’s why the story of the prodigal son rings so clear to my own heart – for in the story of these three, the Father, the younger son, the older son, are found the elements of the resurrection story.  It’s in the narrative of the  Father who desires to bring life to a son who is caught up in a life of rebellion and choosing the way of death. It’s in the living out of the consequences of choosing our own way and finding that we land in a place of loneliness and need and knowing that our Father wants to bring good life into our way. And it’s in the story of the older son, who feels betrayed by the family yet is rewarded by his faithfulness in the inheritance of all that the father owns.

And this story, that’s retold in real life, over and over, and is told in a particular way by those who come to the end of their own resources and look for life, again, in the arms of a loving Heavenly Father.