 Good morning and a blessed Easter to you all. The Christian journey over the last 2,000 years has always been about storytelling. Our scriptures are the stories that define who we are as Christians and so this will be a time for storytelling. I'm sure that each of you has a story. I know that I do. Back when I was about 10 years old my family had invited all of our relatives in the region to Easter dinner as in dinner at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. My mother had been cooking all day Saturday and the main course was to be a leg of lamb. Well like good Christians the world over we went to church Easter morning at 11 o'clock no sunrise service for us. The leg of lamb was left on the dining room table and when we got back from church we discovered that the entire leg of lamb had been eaten by our cat. My parents were livid. Our relatives arrived and we served side dishes and desserts. Easter came even though we had no main dish. Today Easter arrives even though we are not gathered in a sanctuary. Looking back it was a little thing but it wasn't at the time. Every year there was a community Easter egg hunt. It was a tradition that helped make Easter Easter for a child. One year it rained the Easter egg hunt was canceled. Today that doesn't seem like a big thing but back then it was a major disruption, a catastrophe to the anticipated and normal Easter routine that had gathered friends and family for years and still Easter arrived. This year is a huge disruption yet at the same time it seems to make us more connected to the deeper meaning of Lent and Easter. Today Easter arrives even though we are not gathered in a sanctuary. As a local church pastor I remember the exhaustion that arrives with Holy Week. The ways in which we had to get five bulletins ready, sermons, prayers to write, coordinating with the church musicians, getting the palms ready to be distributed, foot washing bowls to be filled, tenebrae candles to be lit and then the fragrance of the sanctuary as the flower committee brought those Easter lilies into the sanctuary. It seemed like this marathon that would never end of worship that culminated with an Easter dinner after church and then the crash and burn that came with the sheer exhaustion of the preparation and leading of worship that Holy Week presents to pastors. This is a different kind of Easter siblings. All of us this year are facing both the emptiness of the tomb that is accompanied by the amazement of the Easter story of resurrection. Today Easter arrives even though we are not gathered in a sanctuary. Let's gather our hearts and spirits in prayer. On this Easter day, oh God, we remember the empty tomb. On this Easter day, oh God, you gather in amazement at the news that Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed. On this Easter day, oh God, we come together as your people knowing that you are in our midst, bringing us hope and offering us new life. On this Easter day, oh God, we worship together knowing that you are not confined to buildings and that the resurrection transforms this world. On this Easter day, oh God, we praise your holy name. Death does not have the final word. Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed. Hallelujah.