Alleluia! Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Little Anastasia is fearfully and wonderfully made. We do not confess that she was fearfully and wonderfully made, but that she is fearfully and wonderfully made. She is not a past tense creature, but an eternal daughter of God her Father. She is not gone and forgotten, but alive rejoicing in the arms of Jesus awaiting the last day when she herself will be raised up bodily to live with all the saints with the Lamb in the feast of His Kingdom which has no end. 

Anastasia is fearfully and wonderfully made as God's own child. Death could not end her gladness. Though she could not be brought to the waters of Holy Baptism, the same merciful Lord that would have given her His Name there in the water combined with His Word claims her in His mercy. The same Jesus welcomed her unto the gates of paradise and told the Father, "She is with me. She is mine. I died for her to." For, on the cross, Jesus gave up His life that Anastasia's life may be raised to immortality. All of the sin in which she was conceived, and which she herself committed in her short life, was assumed by Jesus and drowned in His blood. Death was defeated there on the cross for Anastasia. Death was swallowed up by death. Anastasia's original and actual sins can not undo what Jesus finished on the cross for her. Jesus lives, death is defeated, Anastasia lives forever. All her sins forgiven. Her death is Christ's and His life hers. 

I cannot wait to meet my Goddaughter. Allison and I cannot wait to rejoice with her and all the saints in the marriage feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom which has no end. We cannot wait to see the joy on her parents faces when their daughter is raised up with them, not because any of them performed some amazing work, or lived a perfect life without sin, but rather because Jesus' blood, wounds, and death covered all their sins and now presents them before the Father unblemished and spotless. We can't wait for that great and awesome day. But, while we wait, we wait in joyful suffering over the loss that causes our grief. May the Holy Spirit continue to place in our hearts and consciences the the words of St. Paul which comfort saying, " So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." (2nd Corinthians 4:16-18). A little part of us has died, and the grief will abide because the love for little Anastasia endures to the end. May the Love of Christ then endure to the end for us, that in the midst of our suffering, we may have joyful hope in the reunion that is ours because of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Blessed are those who die in the faith, for they abide with their Savior Jesus unto the ages of ages. Thanks be to God, that little Anastasia is one of those blessed ones now that awaits as we gather us in the wedding hall, to eat the supper at Jesus' call.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!