On this Easter morning I want to share part of a post from our mission blog that I wrote on April 2, 2018.
Resurrection, Revelation, Reflection
Yesterday morning my mind went back to another Easter morning 12 years ago. I arrived in Utah the day before because I'd received word that my father wouldn't live past the week. He was in the final stages of Alzheimer's.
It was good to greet my father Saturday and see his eyes light up when I walked into his hospital room. That afternoon my mother, brothers and their wives, his grandchildren, and I gathered around my Dad. We visited with him, shared memories, and said a prayer together. When I went back to the hospital the next day, my Dad was non-responsive. In Sunday worship services that Easter morning we sang the hymn, "He is Risen!" As we sang, my eyes filled with tears as I realized because Jesus had risen, so would my father. I will be with my father again. His death will not be the end of our relationship.
He Is Risen!
1. He is risen! He is risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice.
He has burst his three days’ prison;
Let the whole wide earth rejoice.
Death is conquered; man is free.
Christ has won the victory.
2. Come with high and holy hymning;
Chant our Lord’s triumphant lay.
Not one darksome cloud is dimming
Yonder glorious morning ray,
Breaking o’er the purple east,
Symbol of our Easter feast.
3. He is risen! He is risen!
He hath opened heaven’s gate.
We are free from sin’s dark prison,
Risen to a holier state.
And a brighter Easter beam
On our longing eyes shall stream.
Text: Cecil Frances Alexander, 1818-1895
Music: Joachim Neander, 1650-1680
Enjoy some pictures of my Dad through the years. (In no particular order)
Until we meet again....
I love you Dad!
