“What appears to be the end may be only the beginning,” was the legend on a poster that coworkers gave me at a goodbye party years ago. It was true then, as it has been many times in my life, and I suspect also in yours, when the death of what has been yields to the resurrection of new life, new life greater than anything we could have imagined before. It is only when we are ready to surrender what no longer has life for us, only when we allow the stone to close the tomb on what has been, that new life can burst forth in resurrection light. That is the on-going truth of the Easter story.

It is God’s grace that brings life out of death. Scripture tells us: “. . . God raised [Jesus] on the third day”—on Easter, we celebrate that death is swallowed up in victory! When we continue to grieve outside the tomb, it is the resurrected Christ who comes to call us by name, to get our attention, just as he did Mary Magdalene that first Easter morning. Christ calls us to open our eyes, to perceive the transformed life that is aborning deep within us, to rejoice in the hope of what is to come, trusting in God’s ever-present, life-giving grace.

Hundreds of years before that first Easter, our psalmist experienced the joy of resurrection life and was filled to overflowing with thanksgiving and praise for the gracious hand of God at work in his life. When we recognize resurrection grace blossoming in our hearts and lives, may we join with the psalmist in proclaiming:

“This is the Lord’s doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes.

On this day the Lord has acted;

we will rejoice and be glad in it.”