Good Easter Sunday Morning Friends,
Today is Easter Sunday, again. But something is different. We will play handbells and sing the Hallelujah Chorus. And we will undoubtedly greet people with exclamations of, “He has risen!” But as a friend of mine pointed out to me and others who got his texts, on that first Easter Sunday it was more likely the question, ” Is he risen?” So to bring meaning into this day for us at the Moorings I am taking the liturgical calendar scripture and adding to it passages from Habakkuk, Hosea, and a shared passage from John that our Pastor Steve will be preaching on this Easter. The passages together lean into the themes of revival, return and recognition. They prompt us to contemplate the cross calling us to repentance but moreover something even more mysterious from the book of Colossians about the resurrection being in us now. Friends, What If Resurrection Is Already Calling Your Name?
Scripture Windows
Habakkuk 3:1–2 (LXX)
The prophet pleads for God to renew His works and make Himself known again. He remembers God’s past faithfulness and dares to ask for revival in the present.
Hosea 6:1–2 (NIV)
Israel is invited to return to the Lord who wounds in order to heal, promising revival and restoration “on the third day.” It is repentance anchored in covenant love.
Acts 10:34a, 37–43
Peter proclaims that God shows no favoritism. Jesus lived, died, and was raised—and now forgiveness is offered to all. Resurrection is a universal invitation.
Colossians 3:1–4
If Christ is risen, then we are risen with Him. Our true life is now hidden with Christ in God. Resurrection becomes our identity.
1 Corinthians 5:6b–8
Because Christ is our Passover Lamb, we are called to live as an unleavened people—sincere, truthful, and free from the old yeast that corrupts.
John 20:1–16 (NIV)
Mary, Peter, and John encounter the empty tomb. John believes before he understands. Mary recognizes Jesus only when He speaks her name. Resurrection dawns slowly, personally, and often quietly.
Message: Taken together, these passages create a sweeping Easter arc—revival, return, proclamation, identity, transformation, and recognition. And the interesting thing is that the Easter arc doesn’t begin with triumph alone. It begins with longing because resurrection begins with longing. Habakkuk stands in a world that looks alarmingly like our own—fractured, unjust, exhausted—and he prays, “Lord, renew Your works.” In other words: Do again what only You can do. That ache is the seedbed of resurrection. Before Easter is a proclamation, it is a plea. Easter must have this same ache: God, act again. Revive us. Hosea gives voice to the movement every human heart must make: “Come, let us return to the Lord.” We don’t work our way back; we turn our way back. And the promise is astonishingly unilateral: He will revive. He will restore us. He will raise. The “third day” hope of Hosea is already leaning toward an empty tomb. Grace always gets there before we do. The resurrection meets us where we are. John believes before he understands. Peter sees but cannot yet grasp. Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener—until He speaks her name. This is how resurrection faith often dawns: in partial light, in confusion, in longing, and then—suddenly—recognition. The risen Christ does not wait for perfect understanding; He comes to us in our bewilderment and calls us by name. Resurrection breaks open the circle, the veil is opened for all to access. When Peter in Acts 10 announces that the risen Christ shows no favoritism, he is not offering a sentimental inclusivity. He is declaring the collapse of every boundary we use to justify ourselves. No insiders. No outsiders. No moral achievers or spiritual elites. The resurrection levels the ground. Grace is not allocated; it is unleashed. And listen to this, the Resurrection also relocates our lives. Check out Colossians 3. Paul doesn’t say, “Try to live up to the risen Christ.” He says, “You have been raised with Him.” Your life is now hidden—secure, anchored, located—in Christ. Most of us live as though resurrection is a future event we hope to reach. Paul insists it is the present reality from which we live. The Christian life is not moral improvement; it is resurrection participation. Still the resurrection creates unleavened people as1 Corinthians 5 points out. If Christ is our Passover Lamb, then Easter is not just a celebration—it is a cleansing. Not perfection, but sincerity, not performance, but truth. Not the old yeast of self‑justification, but the new heart that grace alone can give. The gospel doesn’t merely forgive; it renovates. And in John 20, the Resurrection meets us personally. The resurrection meets us where we are. John believes before he understands. Peter sees but cannot yet grasp. Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener—until He speaks her name… This is how resurrection faith often dawns: in partial light, in confusion, in longing, and then—suddenly—recognition. The risen Christ does not wait for perfect understanding; He comes to us in our bewilderment and calls us by name to a resurrected life.
And So, this all matters because it is what God is doing. God moves first. He revives. He restores. He raises. He calls. And He still speaks our names. Friends, Easter is not merely an event to celebrate; it is a reality to inhabit. The book of Habakkuk teaches us to long for God’s renewing work. Hosea calls us to return for healing. Acts declares resurrection is for all. The book of Colossians reveals that resurrection is in us. The book of Corinthians urges us to live cleansed and sincere lives. And John shows us resurrection meets us personally—even before we fully understand. Friends, a risen Christ creates a risen people. A risen people live with risen hearts. And risen hearts become signs of hope in a world still waking up to dawn. So when we hear the call, “He is Risen.” Our response hopefully will be, “We are risen indeed, in Jesus.”
Pray the risen Lord renew the Father’s works in our day. Pray that where and when our hearts feel tired, we are revived. Pray that when we have wandered, we are drawn back to work in the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray we are cleansed from the old yeast and anchored in the Spirit of Jesus. Pray as Christ did for Mary and John at the tomb, that God would speak our names again. Pray we have divine help to see and believe and let Christ’s resurrection life rise within us…today and every day.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 