By Pastor Mike Glover
For The Cordova Times
There are so many ways that this year’s Easter feels and is different from the past. The sun will rise Easter morning on empty sanctuaries as congregants gather around smartphones, tablets, and computers to worship. Easter egg hunts and other community activities will be canceled or reimagined in light of social distancing. Dinner tables normally crowded with family and friends might only seat the immediate family as we quarantine. While we can rightly grieve the loss of some traditional mainstays of the Easter holiday, let’s also remember to give thanks to God for those unchanging and eternal truths of this weekend:
Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
Christ will come again!
What a blessing this day is! Every Easter is an opportunity to remind ourselves of the immutable fact that God loves us enough not just to forgive us for our shortcomings and failures, but to die for us in order to offer us eternal life. I am buoyed by the knowledge that the salvation God offers through His son Jesus is not only the answer to our fears about Coronavirus, but also to every fear and doubt we had before and those that we will have long after this time is in the rearview mirror. That is the mystery and miracle of the gospel: that God meets every need and soothes every soul, no matter where we are when we call out to Him!
So this weekend, the house may be a bit quieter than usual. The world may seem to have slowed to a crawl. But the opportunities for us to embrace a spirit of resurrection and new life are blooming all around us. How can you breathe new life into the world of those you love? How can you live as a reminder of the grace of God to your neighbors? When we begin to get creative with ways to love and serve others, we inhabit the same Spirit of God that sought to do something new and unexpected on one Sunday morning over two thousand years ago.
The call upon each of us is the same no matter where we are in life, or how far we have wandered from his path. He calls each of us and all of us to the path of new and abundant life, with the promise that when we walk toward Him, we never walk alone. Jesus will walk side by side with us over every mountaintop and through every valley.
May your Easter holiday be bright, safe, and full of God’s love!
Mike Glover is pastor for Cordova Community Baptist Church.
