By Ann Weems

              I think on Easter morning we should throw confetti in church!

No?

What about a little fanfare?

A deafening drum roll?

A three-minute standing ovation?

What?  Have we had the drums beaten out of us

That we in the celebrative community can’t really

Get excited about God’s aliveness?

About God’s love given to us unconditionally?

Have we given Easter to the lily bearers, the bunny rabbits,

the patent leather shoes?

Let’s face it:  we live as though we don’t believe in Easter . . .

Easter scares us

Because we’re the people who can’t believe

That God gives us abundant Life;

We think we have to earn it.

In our pull-yourself-up by-your-own-bootstraps society

It’s hard to remember that God doesn’t buy the self-made man.

So we in the church spend our lives showing God

What good people we are,

What achievers we are,

How much we deserve God’s love.

We want to pay our own way,

But Easter says it’s already been paid!

Easter says, no matter how prodigal,

We can go home again!

So come to the Easter party!

Let’s celebrate that amazing grace

That in Christ’s resurrection

We are still loved even at our most outrageous.

The Lord has given us the music;

All we need do is dance it!

Come to the Easter party!

Copyrighted, Ann Weems, in  “Reaching for Rainbows”