After Easter - then what?

Taking a break from the "Choices for Lent" series, I want to invite us all to reflect on what comes after Easter. The death and resurrection of Jesus was the awesomely loving response of God to his erring children, we have renewed life because Jesus removed all barriers to God at the moment the 'veil of the temple was rent asunder!'
As essential as this was to God's plan for his Kingdom, what ultimately decides the issue is how christians respond to the cross and the empty tomb! Jesus said quite emphatically, 'As the Father sent me, so I send you!' 'Go into all the world to preach, teach and baptise.' 'You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth!' It can't be any clearer than that - if we call ourselves disciples of Jesus, then we are called to be a witness to the Good News everywhere we go and in everything we do. Every other part of our church life and journey is secondary, and yet it seems to me that we have made 'church life' our top priority in order to avoid being disciples!
On the cross Jesus gave his all, absolutely, we are called to do the same. We all know and can recite John 3:16, but take a moment to read 1John 3:16 - the completion of the story!
Easter is only joy when God's love overflows our hearts and is shared with others at every opportunity in our daily lives, and oh what joy it is! I am convinced that one of the main reasons many people do not come or stop coming to church is because they do not find the joy! And joy is profoundly life-giving; it is way beyond mere happiness which most people settle for - it caused Paul to sing hymns in prison before he was to die!
Take a moment to focus on the joy of Easter. Who do you know who shines with that joy? Is your heart filled with the joy of Christ-risen-from-the-dead-giving-you-new-life? My Easter prayer for each of us is that we will open our hearts as never before to receive the spirit of the risen Christ.

"Joy to the world, He is risen, hallelujah!"