She served on the worship planning committee and for the fourth year in a row it was time to think about how to make this one more memorable Easter in a line of 154 annual celebrations of the resurrection since First Christian Churchs founding in this small, rural community. Deb normally energetic and creative felt herself resisting this planning meeting. Having immersed herself in the text (John 20:11-16) she had expected to be brimming with ideas. Not now. What had happened?

Her answer came that evening when she and four other church members met in the basement fellowship hall with the pastor. Deb bowed her head and closed her eyes as a prayer was offered. The elder in charge began with the question, So, whos got ideas for celebrating Easter? Ten seconds passed before the pastor broke the silence. Well, Ive been giving this a lot of thought and . . . By the time he had finished, Deb was not sure that she understood what had been proposed but being a generally supportive person she did not question the ensuing plans and by the end of the meeting she had agreed to purchase the supplies (eggs and some brightly colored confetti) for the childrens sermon and check to see that the mens group would once again prepare and serve the annual Easter breakfast.

It was all too predictable. That was the reason for her restlessness. Nothing would change. After the Lily plants, choir special, taking communion from the newly polished aluminum trays, and despite all the energy invested in sermon preparation and dressing the children in their new spring outfits, just what would be different?

For Jesus and the disciples, everything about Easter was new! Each moment in the unfolding story was a novelty that terrified and delighted those who were there. From the humble way the Lord of Lords bore humiliation and death, to the sudden lack of corporate courage of the apostles, to the expensive grave, to angels and finally Jesus himself (apparently unrecognizable?) appearing first to a woman, there was energy and focus and a profound awareness that nothing could ever be the same again.

Not so life in the center aisle of the sanctuary at First Christian Church. Mostly the same people came at roughly the same time (and in the same humor) and did and said much of what they had done and said for years. Whenever there was a breakthrough, a disruption, a profound tragedy, a birth or a profession of faith the routine was replaced with something vital and fresh for a while. Then, like some huge magnet, inertia would settle with the dust and dampen the sound and dim the light or so it felt to Deb who often compared her worship experiences to those at the mega church in the city that she attended when visiting her son and his family.

It was not until the Tuesday afternoon of Holy Week as Deb was in the chancel arranging the 17 plants given as memorials that she happened to glance at the east window a memorial to Harold and Margarie Baker that she felt something new. Trish Baker, a former high school classmate and great granddaughter of the couple now remembered in stained glass beneath The Good Shepherd, was due to come home from the hospital following an unsuccessful round of chemotherapy. She and Trish had little good to say about each other after a series of painful exchanges between victor and victim and for nearly thirty years they would acknowledge each other only politely in public. Today, however, she honestly felt bad knowing that Trish would likely die in a few weeks. She wondered silently why more wasnt done to find a cure for cancer and she tried to imagine where she would most likely be able to do some good if she ever found more time to volunteer. As she straightened up to place the last pot, her eyes caught the words carved into the oak communion table, This do in remembrance of me.

Had she not been told a hundred times as a child to move quietly in the sanctuary, she might have said aloud the words now forming like a childs prayer. You did this! I care. I care about Trish. I care about the thousands of people who die every day in pain from mysterious cancers and about the families who suffer with them. Im thinking about volunteering to help in one more cause and You know that I have no more time to give. You did this! Tears formed and from a distant place within a calm spirit entered the arms of a faint, new hope and danced within her resurrecting spirit even here, even now. Perhaps this Easter she might really sing an Alleluia.

The gift of sharing in the passion, death and resurrection of Christ is for some a dramatic occurrence on the order of the Damascus Road experience of Paul. For many of our congregations, however, it can come as suddenly and as quietly as the millionth snow flake on a slender, yielding branch or a shaft of sunlight slipping between parting storm clouds. Sometimes we seek it. Sometimes it finds us distracted, preoccupied, and under-prepared. And so we celebrate just a few of these resurrections:

Hamilton Federated Church forgot there was a recession and went ahead and sent a check for $1,120 to assist in Haitian relief.

Burlington Junction CC will shear off their pastors goatee next Sunday when they complete raising money to build two post-quake houses in Haiti and Chile!

Christ is risen indeed among the disciples in Wyatt Park Christian Church in St. Joseph who discerned and supported the work of the Spirit to transform them into a congregation with three substantial global missions, three distinctive local missions, four members who have recently answered the call to pastoral ministry and missions, and accomplishing a huge weekend services makeover with active participation of over seventy percent of worship participants.

St. Joseph FCC recognizes the risen Christ in the neighbors who inhabit the now run down homes of what was once their genteel inner-city neighborhood. Lately they have re-visited their costly commitment to stay and to serve and the emerging consensus gives evidence to the work of the Spirit within and among them. New members many unwelcome in other sanctuaries suggest that the Spirit is also working through them.

Leaders at the Lathrop FCC meet weekly to research and discern an ecumenical effort to reach those who feel disconnected from the Body of Christ. One of those leaders, Lavon Winkler - CEO of a large corporation, also makes time to offer workshops around the area on Spiritual Gifts and Lifestyle Evangelism serving as the NW Area Evangelist and chairman of the NW Area Center for Lifelong Learning.

Disciples are re-visiting their history at Gallatin FCC with the help of Dr. Scott Killgore and the Gospeled Pastors of the South (clergy cluster) which is organizing a Disciples Heritage Tour in August.

Homeless youth in Cameron found strong allies in the Cameron FCC . A simple toiletries ministry that began when Jack Edwards invited a friend to speak at the monthly Disciples Men breakfast is growing into a full blown mission to end teenage homelessness in Clinton County.

And, speaking of Disciples Men, Rockport Christian Church pastor Rod Hopper now serves as the Pastor/Counselor for the General Council of Disciples Men as well as moderator for the Northwest Area.