I hope that you will make the journey through the Stations of the Cross today. Last year, when I was sitting in Wesley Hall serving communion for the Stations of the Cross, it was semi-dark and light was coming mostly from candles. I was contemplating the death of Jesus and the pain and agony and suffering of being nailed to a cross. Jesus died a cruel death. I got to thinking about people I know who are struggling. I thought about death and it got overwhelming. I was feeling Jesus’ pain and the pain of others. I was feeling the pain of my own sins, of things I have done and have left undone that have offended God and others. Then I looked up and in the darkness of Wesley Hall my eyes got focused on the light coming from the Exit signs above all the doors. Exit signs that were showing the way out, the way out of the darkness. It almost made me laugh out loud because that is Easter. Easter points the way out of the darkness. Isn’t that the Easter promise? The resurrection of Jesus is God’s Exit sign for us. Easter says there is a way out of death back to life. Remember, on Easter, Jesus exited the tomb. Easter is the Exit sign that shines in the darkness of a broken world and broken lives and through Jesus shows us the way back to life.
– Dr. Tim Thompson