The Rest of the Story

The late Paul Harvey was one of America’s best known radio announcers and commentators. I remember learning the necessity of waiting for him to complete his broadcast with the delayed statement, “Good Day,” that came at the end of each broadcast.

I also liked hearing “The Rest of the Story.” It almost always  brought new understanding or perspective to a long familiar story or perhaps something I had never previously heard.

In this season of Lent, we have the advantage over the disciples in that we already know “The Rest of the Story.”  It is hard to imagine living life with Jesus so many years ago without knowing how things would turn out.

Their expectations, so far as we can tell, were that Jesus was going to Jerusalem to be welcomed as a conquering hero and to inaugurate the new Kingdom of God on earth. It was beyond belief when they saw their leader arrested, convicted,  tortured, humiliated, and put to death.

And yet, there was  “the rest of the Story!” It took place on what we now call Easter Sunday morning, and it brought the astonishing and unbelievable news that Jesus had been raised from the dead!

There are times when I think that I would like to know “the rest of the story” about how things will turn out here at First United Methodist Church! I sometimes think that I would like to know what moment will make the difference, what conversation will be the key, what prayer will bring the answer, what program or project will get us turned around, and yet I don’t have that kind of knowledge.

What I do know is more important than any short-term goals and self-serving desires. I know that the God whom we seek to serve is more durable than any suffering, more persistent than any opposing forces, more constant than any misunderstanding, more faithful than any accusation, and more powerful than death itself!

It is this God–the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ–who is with us in all the moments of our life. It is this God–the one who raised Jesus from the dead–who already knows “the rest of the story!”

It is this God, whom we are called to serve faithfully, even though we do not know for certain how the story will turn out! In the meantime, we seek to trust God with all that we have and all that we are. Because it is this God, who already knows “the rest of the story,” and it is a story of life and love and light!

May you have a blessed Easter, already knowing “the rest of the story!”