As I type this, we are in the Lenten Season yet. But soon we reach that great and glorious day called Easter. Did you realize there are five Easters? Can you name all five of them?

This is the first Easter: That grand, glad, glorious Sunday centuries ago when Jesus came laughing, leaping, shouting, dancing, and singing right out of that gloomy granite grotto, raised and alive again forevermore. Jesus became our death-defeating, grave-conquering Savior!

This is the second Easter: The day of our baptism. For as St. Paul tells us, in this word-and-water miracle we were forever joined and united to Jesus, crucified and risen. In Christ, through baptism, we have already been raised from the tomb. Death and the grave already behind us – in Christ, through baptism.

This is the third Easter: Every Sunday worship. Sunday was the day the first Christians chose on which to worship because Sunday was the day Jesus rose and robbed death of its sting and the grave of its victory. And so, soon we celebrate Easter. And every Sunday is Easter when we sense, see, show, display and experience the joy and hope of Easter as we sing our songs, say our prayers, do the liturgy, greet and fellowship with one another (still with masks and social distancing!).

This is the fourth Easter: The way we think, feel, speak, act, and live every day. Each new day is an Easter, as we rise from sleep and live every fleeting moment as a precious gift from God!

This is the fifth Easter: The one to come! On some near or distant day, the risen Jesus will return, speak the reviving, resurrecting word, then call us forth (perhaps from our graves, along with those whom we have loved and laid to rest before us). And then what? Why then life, love, and laughter that will never end. Resurrection, and an eternity of joy beyond our wildest hopes and dreams.

Christ is risen! Hallelujah! He is risen indeed. Hallelujah! Amen.

Pastor Drews