Many people tomorrow will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, for it is Easter Day.
It will be a day for rejoicing. It will be a day when you reflect not only on the event 2,000 years ago, but on the small resurrections in your own life.
Maybe it was the day you were baptized. Or maybe the day a long-awaited prayer was finally answered, a sickness was healed or sorrows wiped away.
For some of you, the day will only serve as a reminder of your personal cross. You feel alone crying at the cross on Good Friday, while the rest of the world moves on to Easter Day. You wish you could celebrate, but you don’t know how.
You’re not alone, I can assure you.
I’ve watched many Good Fridays and Easters play out in the lives of those around me — marriages and babies ushered in amid cries of rejoicing and praising God; yet, financial hardship, cancer and infidelity occurring uncomfortably close to these joyful events. If we are honest, most of life is like this.
How do we live with both Good Friday and Easter?
We must recognize that the first Easter was not just a one time event that happened long ago. It applies to you and me today just as much as it did to Christ’s followers that first Easter morning. Our only hope is in the transforming truth of Easter.
We need to remember that as amazed as Christ’s followers were after his resurrection, they still didn’t fully understand what it all meant, for the world or for their own lives. While the resurrection brought their friend and teacher back to them, he was different now. The resurrection healed some wounds while presenting new questions, and fears.
I believe that all Good Fridays will lead to joyful Easter mornings if we hold on to Christ. You may be in a time of difficulty, a time of rejoicing, maybe a little of both. The key is to keep walking in faith one step at a time.
Only the risen Christ can guide us through the foggy path of life. When our final Easter morning arrives, we’ll finally see with clarity that the journey was worth it.
Make time to reflect on the “little resurrections” in your life — the times God answered a prayer in a very tangible way, the blessings in your life, a miracle you’ve witnessed. All these serve as reminders of the great work God will continue to do in your life.
Alleluia. Christ is risen.
The Rev. A. Michael Singer is rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Kinston. Reach him at msinger@stmaryskinston.com.