Sometimes when I go to church I have so much weighing heavily on my heart and mind that I don't even remember the message once I've left the building. People will see me walking around at the grocery store afterwards or talk to me on the phone later in the afternoon and ask how church was, or what the message was about, and I really have to think about it.

But as I become a more mature Christian and seek God out in my daily life I find myself more at peace on Sundays as I sit and listen to Pastor Hall's message. This past Resurrection Sunday, God was truly speaking to me. And it's not as though I haven't heard the message before; Pastor Hall said it himself, I don't have a new story to tell, today is not the day to talk about Moses or Abraham or Daniel in the lion's den. For the first time in my life I really felt that message, and felt God speaking to me through it.

Pastor Hall took his text from the 24th chapter of Luke, "He is not here, but is risen!"

On Easter sunday we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus, but we would have no such event to celebrate without his death and burial. Reading the text and listening to the message, I immediately thought of one of my favorite June Jordan quotes, And what shall we do, we who did not die?

I use to contemplate this quote almost exclusively in the context of poetry. What was I to do as a young poet in a long line of activist poets and thinkers? How was I supposed to honor their sacrifice with my own life?

Sitting in church, I began to think about how best to honor God's sacrifice with my life. Jesus died for my sins, so what shall I do knowing he died in my place so that I might have eternal life?

What shall we do, we who did not die?