Written by professors, graduates, and others in
the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary community, these reflections, prayers, and spiritual practices will take you along the journey with Jesus through the cross toward resurrection.
Easter
Sunday, March 27, 2016
“Too Many Alleluias”
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• Romans 8:38-39
Often during Easter Sunday worship, I invite the children of the church to count the number of “Alleluias.” Easter worship resounds with Alleluias, so the task can be daunting. From my seat on the chancel, I can see children furiously counting on their fingers, resorting to their parents’ fingers, and finally adding tick-marks on their bulletins to keep up with the number of Alleluias coming their way in prayer and song. After worship one year, a young boy came to me with wide eyes and said, “Pastor Sarah, I’ll never be able to do it— God gives us too many Alleluias to count.”
I think of this child’s wisdom as I prepare for Easter’s song of unending Alleluias. These Alleluias, these songs of praise, come out of the stories of Lent, of Christ’s life, death, and finally his resurrection. These Alleluias aren’t empty; they are sung and spoken as those who know the despair of Holy Week, the sting of betrayal, the cruelty of denial, the finality of seeing a loved one die. We know this despair, in the life of Jesus, and in our own lives. Easter morning begins in quiet darkness with an empty tomb and scared disciples, but it ends with shouts of “I have seen the Lord!” and “Go and tell the others that he is risen just as he said.” These are hard-won Alleluias. Our songs of praise come out of lived faith, of fear and doubt that’s transformed by Christ calling our name and sending us out to tell others of his love. Perhaps that’s why we sing these Alleluias with such fanfare at Easter. God gives us mercy, hope, forgiveness, and new life in the face of darkness and despair, and our only response, unending Alleluias. Alleluia becomes our word, our prayer, our song. What else could it be? As we sing all the Alleluias God gives us, The unspoken words may be these …
I walk now in sorrow but I know
you walk beside me, Alleluia!
Even in our darkest night, God
promises that darkness will never
overcome the light, Alleluia!
God’s love is fiercer than death,
Alleluia!
Our lives are made new in the new life of Christ,
Alleluia!
God’s claim on us as children of God is eternal,
Alleluia! There is nothing, neither death nor life, that could ever separate us from God’s love in Jesus Christ,
Alleluia!
God gives us “too many Alleluias to count” on Easter Sunday as we meet the risen Lord, and then God sends us out to share these Alleluias with a world that needs to know of God’s promised hope, nearness, and mercy so great it too could never be counted.
Christ is risen, Alleluia!
– The Reverend Sarah Demarest Allen (MDiv’07)
Associate Pastor for Children, Youth, and Families
First Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
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For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.
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