Anticipating Easter

The older I get, the more I appreciate Easter. When I was a kid, I remember I didn't like Easter much because I felt like, after Thanksgiving, you had all the crap of holidays without the good parts. For Easter you have to go to church, you have to get dressed up. Yeah, you got a basket with some candy and maybe a book or a kite, but you had to go and deal with all the extended family right after church. By the time you finally made it home from all the nonsense of Easter egg hunting, you had to just turn around and get ready for church again. Sure, it improved a bit when my great-uncle who hid tons of money in prize eggs showed up, and I usually found the most, but then I had to deal with the (temporary) guilt of swiping prize eggs from my sister or cousins.

But now, now I love Easter. Easter represents all that is hopeful in the Christian faith. I work with men every day who by all accounts threw their lives away. But now they have a new chance for a new life. Instead of living on the streets hooked on coke, they live in a converted hotel and are learning just how precious they are in God's eyes.

Easter represents a culmination of all that God has done and is doing in history. God showed through the bogus trial and unjust execution of his son just what he thinks of us. And it is good.

Easter remembers the day that Jesus rose from the grave and with his resurrection threw aside all the old shackles that had chained his beloved. Easter is the day that it is all about.

I am anticipating next Easter even more than usual, because next Easter we will finally have our little church going. The entire reason for moving here will be realized, but also just started. Robin and I miss being part of a church, but we know its temporary. I know for me, working nights and missing her and my funny dog, this present suffering is just part of the path to doing what God has called us to do. It is hard, but I know that in the end it will be worth it.