Redemption & Reconnecting

Today is Easter Sunday. As I was driving to work this morning at 6:30am it was just getting light & I could see the mist hanging over the fields by the road as I drove. I got to thinking - was this like the garden where Mary met Jesus all those years ago ? That first Easter morning when it was proclaimed "Christ is risen!"

And then I got to thinking about other firsts & new starts that I have experienced & am experiencing at the minute.

I've started a new job just over a month ago - its a very different environment to the one I was working in before but one I am enjoying. Its nice to wake up in the morning & look forward to going to work. It's been a while since I felt like that. A nice first.

On the other hand, I left what was once my "home" church a few weeks ago. In recent months decisions were made that I didn't agree with and with much heartache I decided to leave before staying destroyed me emotionally & spiritually. And so I find myself without a spiritual home. It's been weird cos while it freaks me out (probably the Protestant ethic part that says "you must go to church on Sunday") but at the same time I don't feel that I need to rush & start attending another church. It's even made me rethink what is church ? What does it mean to do church ?

So as I walk into a new life with whatever my idea of church was, I know it's important for me to stay connected to God & to friends - for now church to me is having coffee with friends in Starbucks or some other local cafe - be that on a Sunday, or another day of the week (who said "church" had to be on a Sunday ?); going to the park & playing sport/ having a picnic; hanging out with a chinese takeaway & a bottle of wine with friends; listening to pastors/ preachers from other churches around the world on my Ipod. I don't think it really matters how I connect with God or friends - the important thing is that I do it - it would be easy to fall into the routine of 'get up.... go to work..... come home.... get up.... go to work..... come home....' and cut myself off from everyone. I choose not to do that - I choose friends, I choose God, I choose God's redemption - that he can heal me & others who have been hurt more than me & that however we connect with Him, He offers us His redemption.

"Christ is risen. Hallelujah !"