Is it over yet? This really should be over.

Seriously.

I am almost two weeks past my second shot, and I need to be getting on with my life!

Wait — Did someone say “FOURTH surge”?

Researchers NPR spoke to all cautioned that public policy and Americans’ behavior can still make a huge difference in how bad this next surge will be.  (A 4th COVID Surge?)

I am behaving myself!

Paint, paint, paint

Whatever this is – this virus – it isn’t tired; but we are!

Then I read the protection the Moderna shot offers is maybe only for six months; who knows how long the Pfizer shot will protect. It’s a good thing I did not rush out and laminate my vaccination record.

Ah. I can look forward to reliving all the panic I felt about if and when I could get a vaccination, and worrying about when I can get a  booster.

If last year we were on the tenth level of Jumanji, did we just skip to level twelve?

I ask because we are fixing to welcome the 2021 hurricane season and no surprise: prognosticators warn this could be a busy one. (2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season)

Meanwhile a volcano, once dormant for centuries, erupted; followed by another one in the Caribbean.

What was another painful blow today, Prince Philip died. His passing broke a link to the brave souls who defeated the Nazis . . .

So, Easter has been a personal watershed observance; especially as going to church, even believing [in] God wanes. (Church Attendance as COVID turns One)

The good news is that tomb is still empty.

It doesn’t have the ring of great drama. It has the ring of truth . . .  When it comes to just what happened, there can be no certainty. That something unimaginable happened, there can be no doubt . . .

He rose. A few saw him briefly and talked to him. If it is true, there is nothing left to say. If it is not true, there is nothing left to say. For believers and unbelievers both, life has never been the same again. For some neither has death. What is left now is emptiness. There are those who, like Magdalen, will never stop searching it until they find his face.  ~ Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark: A Doubter’s Dictionary, page 45-46

John 20:1-18

P.S. The take away from two Easter sermons this year is

1. Our wounds matter; so does our understanding of God. None of the disciples expected to see Christ alive. What did I expect see at the empty tomb?  (Trembling and Astonished – the music is great, but you can fast forward to the sermon, to about 38 minutes – but don’t miss the finale!)
2. Christ’s finished work doesn’t mean ours – mine – is. Work and Hope are both the nouns and verbs of today’s agenda, when so much looks daunting. (His Love Has Risen)