So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I can’t think of a better Easter morning image than that of Jerusalem! I can just imagine Jesus, right after the resurrection, hiking up to the top of the Mt. of Olives (where I’m standing), looking over the city, and saying, “Everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”

And there, right in the middle of my view, I can see a splash of golden light. I know it’s the roof of the “Dome of the Rock,” but to me it speaks of the Risen Jesus, shedding light and life on those he touches, on all who recognize the vibrant beauty of his witness to the miracle of re-creation.

RE-CREATION: Because it’s “re-creation” I’m talking about here, beyond the more contained idea of “resurrection“. New life in Christ – new life because of Jesus – goes so much farther than mere resurrection. Resurrection returns the life that was; re-creation is brand new life – it’s the kind of life that will not ever come to an end.

Death in fact becomes irrelevant in the face of the Jesus kind of life. That’s why the Jesus life can be so intimidating; so I’m-not-sure-if-I-really-want-that; so Second-week-of-creation.

That’s what new life in Christ is; that’s what Jesus ushered in that first Easter Morning. Jesus was resurrected forward into a definition of life, a quality of existence, a new creation, that had never existed before.

This is what creation was/is all about. This is what Adam and Eve walked away from when they chose to hide from God in the garden. These are the leaves of the tree for the healing of the nations (see yesterday’s post).

ACT II: I’m not going to church this morning to celebrate something so run-of-the-mill as a corpse that up and walks. No, I’m heading to Wake Forest Presbyterian Church to participate in a worship experience that acknowledges that we are all new creations, new ideas, new beings of light, new possibilities, because Jesus launched the second act of the creation story, the part that restores our relationship with God.

Now that is some exciting stuff! That’s some Good News to live into! It’s more than an empty tomb, it’s an invitation to get involved in Act II.

Won’t you join me? – DEREK