As a child, I always looked forward to Easter. I loved the prayerful pageantry of the Easter church services. I loved the strength and promise the story of resurrection illustrates. I loved the family gatherings on Easter Sunday.
This year will be a very unusual Easter since most of us will be home and we won't attend services or gather for celebrations. How can we make this Easter meaningful?
Resurrection is about new beginnings. It is about rising above the struggle. It is about sacrifice and doing what is right and good. It is about the faith that we can do well by one another and build a good world. How can we let this time be a symbol of hope, renewal, and new life?
Hope
The incredible service of essential workers at grocery stores, public works, transportation, government, and medical facilities and organizations brings all of us hope. These individuals are putting their lives on the line for all of us. We can derive hope from their selfless, skilled, and dedicated service.
Renewal
This time at home is a good time to reflect upon our lives. It is time to renew what is good about our lives and a good time to rid our lives of that which is not so good. As a community, we really have to rethink the rat race we have created and work together to build a better world for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, and generations after that. It is time to renew our homes, communities, country, and world so that we live in ways that help us to help one another more as well as create loving, peaceful, promising communities. Wherever there is struggle now, let's think about how we might do that better, and where there is promise right now, let's think about how we can fulfill that promise.
New Life
How can we build a world that protects our natural resources and provides everyone with the essential ingredients of good living including quality homes, schools, health care, nutritious foods, and positive recreation? How can we use our time and money to build these promising communities, and how might we advocate for good leaders rather than self-serving, bigoted, short-sighted leadership?
This unusual time in our world provides the opportunity to take another look at how we live and who we live for. In my opinion, it is time to strengthen our resolve to build more peaceful, equitable, positive communities. It's time to rid our country of self-serving, backwards leadership, policies, and efforts. We can do better and this is our time to start planning and advocating for betterment--we can resurrect our country from the grasp of heinous individuals. This is the promise that Easter holds for me this year.