if Jesus is Risen

It was Easter Sunday, a glorious morning, I am in church and the sun is streaming through the stained glass windows.  There is a sense of anticipation ………. then the trumpet sounds!  As one the congregation rises to their feet, the trumpet fanfare fades and the song begins, “He is risen”.   Did someone sing or did I hear the words in my head?   “He is Risen here today, he’s no longer where he lay, He is risen for I feel him in my soul!” 

Is that Christ Is see?  Raised once more from the dead and floating here before me?   I am ten, I am crying, I turn to my Grandmother.

Rewind, my Grandmother Lottie Rogers and I were visiting the Pentecostal Church in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick this Easter season.  The church was having special meetings, accommodation was provided on the church premises and Grammy and I were roomies.  Grammy had a long affiliation with this church,( more about that in future blogs), for even in the early 1960’s the Plaster Rock church was “out there”.  One of their teachings was that woman must cover their hair before God, (I am thinking, not so different from our Muslim counterparts), and there were beautiful and absurd bonnets in the congregation on that day. 

Not the bright blonde space of my memories and no stained glass, but there is a balconey - of sorts

The church building was rather grand compared to our rural churches.  In my mind it was blond wood, stained glass, sunlight and balconies.  The images available do not support my concept.  There was either a physical remodel or my fifty year old memory has blurred the image. However a church is just a building, a real church is the people and the interaction.  My interaction was with a party of one. 

I turned to Grammy and sobbed that Jesus had risen, or had come back (we called it the second coming), and I was not ready.  Grammy gave me a hanky, told me to blow my nose and that I was witnessing the Easter pageant.   I learned much later that the congregation was known for their theatre.  My beliefs started to waver that day.  It took fifty years before I could reclaim them as my own.  For ten year old Valerie Vail, Jesus did arise that Easter morning, complete with trumpet, sunshine and streaming sunshine.   How do I know?  “I can feel him/her in my heart”.

Happy Easter