May the peace of Jesus Christ be with you!
May the peace of Jesus Christ be with you!

Yes, yes, I know. It's Easter Sunday, and I should be greeting you with the words, "Christ is risen!" And then you all respond with the ancient response, which is, "He is risen, indeed!" This is, after all, the focus of the agenda today, isn't it? Christ is indeed risen from the tomb, and we come — Easter bunnies, colored eggs, and commercialism notwithstanding — to take note of the fact that death has been conclusively and decisively defeated. Rather than passing greetings of peace, shouldn't we be shouting out "O death, where is thy sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55). Wouldn't it be more appropriate if we stood up and declared the power of the empty tomb and be done with it? After all, my Easter ham is wait…