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Hope

Sunday did come.

And to be honest, it was a bit somber. As I lay in bed this morning, I thought to myself, "I bet there was a terrorist attack today." It wasn't a premonition so much as an appraisal of the world we live in right now. And, sure enough, more than 200 people were killed in Sri Lankan churches and hotels today. As I looked through my Facebook feed, there was some really sad news interspersed with the bright family pictures and quotes from apostles. Friends who had died recently. Parents who didn't have long to live. This was shaping up to be a gloomy Easter, complete with a cold rain.

During church, a speaker mentioned that because of Christ's resurrection we can see loved ones again. As I thought about it, the initial reason that we will see loved ones again is because we will die ourselves. We will be spirits, but we'll still see each other. Many people believe that -- even some atheists say they don't believe in God but do believe in life after death.

Easter, then, is not just about seeing loved ones again. It is about Christ helping us live in the meantime. It is about hope, and not just the distant hope in the afterlife. It is about daily, even hourly hope that we can get through the trials and tragedies of mortality. It is about all the things Jesus taught in his mortal ministry, things which must be true because He must have been divine to resurrect Himself.

And because of Him we can keep on living. We can face each day with faith even as we wrestle with the anxieties of caring about those we live and the world we live in. And, because of Him, we can look forward to a day when all of those anxieties will be forever swallowed up in the joy of being with our loved ones forever.
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