“On that happy note…” These are the words that I feel have been echoed at the end of most of the conversations I have had as of late. They are usually said with sarcasm and to lighten the tone of heaviness that has just preceded those words before departing from one another. Following one such conversation, someone said, “Is there really anything we can count on being good now-a-days.” My response was quick, “Easter is coming.” We can count on Easter; we can count on the cross and the resurrection and Jesus Christ and what he has done for us. That is something good that we can always look at no matter what we are facing. Easter is here, and Easter is coming. We are living in Easter time.

Easter is a Christian holi(day), but it is also a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is a recognition of the defeat of sin and death that do not hold us captive unless we permit it to. Maybe instead of Easter, we should call it Independence Day! We can choose each day to live as Easter people, focused on the victory that is ours. We can also choose to remember that Easter is still on its way. We feel the sting of death, we feel the heaviness of the sin of those who choose it instead of freedom, we feel the pain and sorrow of sickness and war and poverty, we feel the coldness of winter. BUT, Easter is coming. Just as the flowers begin to bloom and hope is nestled into our hearts once again, Jesus has promised a return to his people. John 14:1-3 says, “Let not your heart be troubled… In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” And Revelation 21:4 tells us, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Easter has shown us the prophecies of old have come true, the life of Christ can be counted upon, and we can be sure his faithfulness did not end with his ascension to heaven. He said he will come again, and the old order will be made new. We can count on what he said to come true. Easter is here, and Easter is coming.

In the meantime, you can count on Christ. You can count on Christ to get you through these uncertain days. You can count on Christ to help you find the hope in the hopeless. You can count on Christ to give you the strength you need, form the bonds to support you, grant you peace in the middle of the storms. You can count on Christ here and now, and beyond.

Happy Easter! Now go smell a flower. Amen!

From one light to another,
Pastor Hannah Loughman