Christ is risen

Christ is risen – Hallelujah
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Happy Easter to you and your loved ones. Today we celebrate the risen Christ. It truly is a day to sing praises and celebrate.
 
Many of you have walked the journey of Lent with us. You have joined in reading the daily messages in our Lenten booklet, encouraging us to let go of various aspects of our humanity, to claim and know our divinity. Today, as we celebrate the risen Christ, let us celebrate the risen Christ in us, too.​

OK – we may not be as exalted in understanding and realisation as Jesus was. We are not claiming that we are Jesus the Christ! Yet we can recognise and claim that we are different people from whom we were when we started the Lenten season and this is important. We have applied ourselves, as best we can, to the practice of letting go of painful, disturbing and defeating human attributes, knowing we are so much more than this.
 
Perhaps you are like me. Because of the daily reminders to let go, I recognise when I am being negative or critical and pull myself back to centre more quickly. I recognise when I feel resentful – and instead of spiralling into that energy, find a way to be kind and compassionate with myself, be present to my feelings and needs, re-centring and re-connecting with my loving self instead. I now notice when I am deeply shocked, upset or angered by what someone says or does and how my gut reaction is so strong I just want to walk away rather than be with the energy.

When I felt this reaction recently, instead of staying in the energy of anger and blame I stopped, stepped back from the energy as it were, took a moment to breathe and move through it, so I could continue with the meeting.

​That evening, in our Lent meditation, the affirmation was, “In the middle of chaos, by the power of my spirit I declare, ‘Let there be light!’” It was as if a light shone in the darkness. I knew this light was the answer. I gave thanks for the light shining in and through the whole situation. No blame, no anger, just gratefulness and peace. These are a few of my examples of how the application of letting go is helping me shift. There is, as Myrtle Fillmore our co-founder said, ‘less of me and more of Thee’. How joyful and freeing this is. It truly is something to celebrate.
 
You may like to take some time over Easter to recognise these inner shifts in you. They may not be volcanic in your mind or heart. However, every small step is one in the right direction. Every time we let go of some of our defeating human responses, the more brightly shines the light of God through us and as us. This is the Christ energy being born in us each day. Let us celebrate and sing songs of praise today.

Rev. Kimerie Mapletoft