Waiting...

My daily ritual is to wake up, put myself together, check my email and then check CNN. Right now, CNN is doing this beautiful photo series of photos from around the world on Easter.

This is a picture of some women from Indonesia who were weeping as they carried bamboo crosses during a Good Friday procession in Sawangan village near the town of Magelang in Central Java.

Something hit me hard as I was viewing this picture imparticular. This is sort of embarassing to admit this, but here I go. This beautiful holiday of Good Friday is impacting to the whole world more than I think we, as Americans, realize. It isn't about Easter bunnies or those stinking HUGE filled baskets I saw at Costco yesterday. This time of rememberance isn't only affecting the American Christian Church, but people are deeply distraught over this on the other side of the world. As a body, we are in this together, and we all should be feeling the way that these women from Indonesia did...anguished. Today, as some call Silent Saturday, is yet again another day of waiting. It must have seemed, back in the day, that there was no hope. There was no reason to keep on going. There was no joy to be found. And the people just waited.

I guess that I don't know what my challenge is for myself today. I am actually preparing myself to go to an Easter service on the super south side of Chicago...and I will be a minority in this mostly Africian American Church that my friend Alise Barrymore is starting up tomorrow. I am going to suppport her and experience this holiday with another culture besides the prodominatly Covenant Swedes I have always celebrated with. I hope my eyes are continued to be opened to the colors of Easter. The colors of skin that are represented around the world as Jesus came to defeat the grave and give hope for all.