The Vigil Projectreturns with its seventh and final video in what we hope will be the first of many collaborations from this talented group.
“He Rose Again” is about the victory of the Resurrection. “There’s a temptation as a Christian people to get caught in Good Friday, and to get caught in the suffering, and to sort of dwell on those things in life that are difficult,” says the songwriter Andrea Thomas.
The song draws from the experience of Christ’s disciples following the crucifixion: Imagine the confusion and even despair that must have followed Good Friday. The apostles left everything to follow the man they believed to be the Messiah. They sat at his feet and listened. They witnessed miracles. They began spreading the news of his coming.
And then He died. What happened? This wasn’t the Messiah they were waiting for. This wasn’t how things were supposed to happen.
“How often do we feel that way in our own lives?” continues Thomas. “Sometimes it’s just confusing why things happen the way they do, but He brings all things to good for those who love him, and in those moments of confusion and doubt of Jesus’ victory in our own lives, we must hold on to our faith…we must cling to the reality of His victory. Life will never be perfect here on earth. Even while we live in the victory of the resurrection, things will still fall short of the perfection for which we were made, and for that perfection we wait in joyful hope!”
We can’t get stuck on Good Friday. The crucifixion did not have the last word. “We are an Easter people. Of course we believe in the insurmountable value of suffering, but it is only because of the reality of the Resurrection! No matter how hard life gets, no matter how difficult a situation may be, and no matter how impossible it seems for goodness to come out of a bad situation, He has the victory! He rose again! Death could not hold him! We are not a Good Friday people; we are an Easter people!”
For more on the Vigil Project, to pre-order the CD, and to get the latest on their upcoming Pentecost vigil (and resources for hosting your own), head over to their website.
Libby Reichert
And today we celebrate...