Wednesday, March 27, 2013

{day thirty six} at the foot of the cross i lay my Sunday dress...

I tried on dresses tonight.  

New to me dresses and dresses that have been hanging in my closet for years.

As my baby girl played in the bath, I contemplated what I was going to wear this Sunday.  Easter Sunday.  On my fourth trek to the full length mirror, the ridiculousness of it all washed over me.  And I started to chuckle.  

I haven't worn a new dress, like straight from the store new, on Easter Sunday in ages.  Last year I wore the same dress I had worn in 2008 and 2009 {yes I wore the same dress on the same holiday for two years in a row.  don't hate}.  I wound up giggling as I pulled on my comfy pajama pants and tshirt.  

This Sunday is really no different than any other day of the week.  

The tomb was still empty this morning.  Jesus still lives.  Just like last Easter.  And last month and last week and last Sunday.  He rose from the dead, conquered death and sits at the right hand of God.  

I serve a risen King.  Yesterday, today and tomorrow.  And I will serve Him the same on Sunday, new dress or not.  

Just like I believe our society has done a not-so-great job of watering down the Christmas season, I feel we have done the same with Easter.  We spend more time focusing on the weather and if it will be warm enough to wear the latest Spring fashion.  We buy copious amounts of chocolate and sugar covered marshmellow bunnies {that only taste good on Easter Sunday, by the way.  with a cold glass of milk, if you're wondering.  oh and they can only be yellow.  just sayin}.  We dye eggs and hide them.  We cook a large meal and enjoy it with a table full of our loved ones.  

All the while, spending very little time celebrating that fact that Jesus lives.  I mean, really celebrating.  

I'm overcome with emotion when I think about these days that represent the ones that led up to my redemption.  The days that were marked by so much hatred and evil and violence.  The days that Jesus felt the weight of His marvelous rescue plan.  A plan intended to rescue all of creation from eternity spent apart. from the Creator.  

It slays me.  

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection 
and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, 
becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, 
attain to the resurrection from the dead. 
Not that I have already obtained all this, 
or have already been made perfect, 
but I press on to take hold of that
 for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Philippians 3: 10-12


You will encounter no other soul in your life that willingly would die under the very weight of your mistakes.  Your sins.  Your bad decisions.  No other person who die that death for you.  

But God sent the One.  The One who would endure the shame and the heartache and the ridicule.  The One who would face rejection and laughter.  The One who would be crushed for your sin.  

My sin alone was enough to nail Him to the Cross.  But imagine the full weight of all the sin that kept Him there.  

It's too much sometimes.

And yet, it's everything.  All at the same time.

The tomb is just as empty tonight, as it was on that very morning that Mary discovered the stone had been rolled away. And on Sunday, I will celebrate His victory over death.  I may even do it in the same old Target dress that I wore last year and even a few years before that.  Or I could do it in jeans and a t-shirt.  Or in my comfy pajama pants.  I don't have to get all dolled up on Easter Sunday to worship with my Savior.  I worship Him everyday, just by living.  Worshiping is living when you belong to Christ.  

And one thing I know for sure, I belong to Christ.  And Christ alone.


In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save

Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand

I will stand, I will stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground, all other ground
Is sinking sand, is sinking sand
So I stand




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