PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime  – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

***********

I noted a day or so ago that I was going to reprint past blogs I wrote to commemorate the huge importance of Easter.  This is the second of the reprints.

***********

As I awoke this morning, the sun was shining here in Southern California.

It was – and is – a fitting way to celebrate Easter morning!

The sun was out!  

The son is risen!

Easter is more than a holiday when there is a scramble, at least among children, to find Easter eggs.  It is more than traditional Easter candy in the store.  It is more than Easter brunches across the land.

Easter is a time to reflect on what God has done to give us a way to have a relationship with Him.  It is time to reflect on the fact that, at a specific time in history, Jesus, God’s son, went to the cross to die an excruciating death, the purpose for which was to pay the penalty for our sins and to give us a way to have a relationship with God and Jesus.

I found these words on-line this morning:

“Today, Christians look back on these events (the death and resurrection of Jesus), not to relive the grief, sadness and morbidity, but to renew our commitment to living on a higher plane, the one Jesus challenged us to live on.

“We recognize the cross as a symbol of God’s love, but historically it was an instrument of torture devised by the Greeks and Romans to prolong the death of those deemed guilty of crimes against the state. Since Jesus was guilty of no such thing, the cross had to have a higher meaning — one that could hold the hope of humanity.

“Jesus shared its meaning when he said:  ‘This is how much God loved the world:  He gave his Son, his one and only Son.  And this is why:  So that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life.  God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was.  He came to help, to put the world right again.’ (John 3:16-17—The Message Bible).

“Today, the cross is still a symbol of God’s forgiveness. The penalty of our countless sins against God — all kinds of sins — is death … eternal death.  As Jesus hung on the cross, our debt to God was being satisfied.  The cross was God’s way of picking up our tab.  It was His way of saying:  ‘I forgive you.’ The cross was a bridge to God’s forgiveness, and we have been invited to freely walk across it.”

Reflecting on this reality morning, the words of one of my favorite hymns come back to me – and I cite them this morning, just as I did yesterday in a previous blog.

Trying to fathom the distance
Looking out ‘cross the canyon carved by my hands
God is gracious
Sin would still separate us
Were it not for the bridge His grace has made us
His love will carry me

There’s a bridge to cross the great divide
A way was made to reach the other side
The mercy of the Father, cost His son His life
His love is deep, His love is wide
There’s a cross to bridge the great divide

God is faithful
On my own I’m unable
He found me hopeless, alone and sent a Savior
He’s provided a path and promised to guide us
Safely past all the sin that would divide us
His love delivers me

The cross that cost my Lord His life
Has given me mine
There’s a bridge to cross the great divide
There’s a cross to bridge the great divide

Good words, well-used – including the words “bridge,” and “cross,” used interchangeably. 

“God provides a bridge across the great divide.  God provides a cross to bridge the great divide.”

On this Easter morning, I hope all of us can go beyond the trappings of another holiday on the calendar and reflect on the true meaning of the day.