SonRise, Sunset

Today I went to an Easter celebration called SonRise.  It's pretty much the biggest thing to hit the small campus of Southern Adventist University each year.  Seriously, it's bigger than campmeeting.  I remember seeing pictures of it in the "come-to-Southern" brochures I collected in high school.  There was "Jesus," riding on a donkey, with everyone waving palm branches.  My freshmen year at Southern, I signed up as a "rover."  It basically means you dress up in a Bible costume and go through the scenes, either shouting or weeping.  My friend Rena and I went with the weeping.  The Friday night before SonRise, everyone gathered for some last-minute instructions and to pick up our costumes.  That's when I first remember seeing "Jesus"--the one I'd seen in all the pictures.  As Rena and I left the church that night, we were talking about how cool it was that he really looked like Jesus, and then we heard him right behind us, with a jovial spirit: "Are you guys talking about me?"  We kind of laughed, and admitted it, but it was almost like the "real" Jesus just caught us talking about Him!

A few years later, after my college days were over, we took a group of kids from the projects downtown.  The first year, we didn't have tickets, so we dressed them all up in Bible costumes, and they let us in (they don't do that any more, I hear).  It was quite the challenge to keep track of them in the crowds, especially since they were ingenious at darting to the front of any crowd so they could see everything.  It was all fresh and new to them.  They were mad at the people who were making fun of Jesus.  They asked questions every four seconds.  They talked to everyone around them about what was going on.  They loved Jesus, and hated watching him die.  But the best part was the resurrection scene in the gym.  They all jumped about a foot when the loud pyro-effects went off, but they cheered and clapped when Jesus came out of the tomb.  They were so happy to see Him alive again!

I thought of all that today when I went through.  It's been about four years since I've been, and I went alone this time.  Each rotation has a different "Jesus," and you never know who it will be...but I was so excited to see that it was my favorite "legendary" Jesus!  I almost went up with all the kids to take pictures of him, but...I held back.  But I didn't hold back when I saw him walk out of the tomb with the pyro-effects.  I remembered the way the kids saw it, and I remembered something else scheduled for later in the day...a memorial service.

Caitlin was only 26, and just lost a two-year battle with cancer.  I didn't know her as well as many others, but you didn't really have to know her well to know her smile, her kind words and joyful, compassionate spirit.  It seemed like Jesus shined out of her--she didn't have to try, but it was like beams of light escaping and changing whatever darkness she might encounter.  She died with complete trust and peace that Jesus was with her, and would one day wake her up.  The memorial service was a reminder of our broken world, but also of a loving God, who faithfully walks with us through any road we must travel. 

So at the end of this day of a Son-Rise and a sunset, I pray that Jesus becomes more real to us with each day He gives us.  May we never hold back, but run to Him with the joy and trust of a child.  May each sunset of human life remind us of the hope we have because of a Son-Rise two-thousand years ago--the hope of a final sunrise, when the real, legendary Jesus wakes up His friends, and takes us Home.