Just like many folks, Easter was a time of special memories from my childhood. Waking up to find colored eggs, eating chocolate and candy, going to church and then seeing family as they gathered at our house, there was never a shortage of joy associated with this most important holiday in the Christian faith.
But as I have grown, I have learned a deeper appreciation for what Easter means. If Easter is a day of new life, it means something to us because it speaks to a world that knows death all too well. If it is a holiday of healing, it is good news because we know what it feels like to watch sickness devour. Truly, the miracle of Easter is not just that life is sacred, but that it is victorious! We can be assured that God’s life overcomes death with the same conviction as we have in knowing that light overcomes darkness.
When we ground ourselves in the story of God’s love in this world, we find a foundation of hope that is stronger than the storms that rage around us. Our world is filled with evidence of the darkness closing in. Each passing year we mourn tragic losses. We rage against injustice in our world. We worry that our strength might crumble against the onslaught of new and unexpected obstacles. But every year at Easter, we have the opportunity to replant ourselves in the growing garden of God’s promise. We are reminded that no matter what the world may throw at us, by God’s strength and promise, we overcome.
As Paul said, we are more than conquerors in light of God’s love for us. And lest we despair that God’s love is only for the elite chosen or for those who have earned it, God’s word reminds us: “neither death nor life, either angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
May you and those you love have an Easter full of fun and full of faith, knowing that Christ has been raised, death has been defeated, and God’s kingdom awaits all who seek Him!
Pastor Mike Glover
Cordova Community Baptist Church
