Tag: Easter

It’s the night before Easter and all through the house…wait, wrong holiday, or is it?  It wasn’t until I was older that I grew to understand that Easter is truly more important than Christmas.  Mind you, growing up, I was a Christer, a Christian who went to church mostly on Christmas and Easter.  That is unless my mom dropped me off at  church with Nana so she could get the grocery shopping done.  Now, I not only go regularly, but I am involved in ways I never would have thought if you told me this was going to happen twenty years ago.

Easter is about resurrection.  It’s interesting when you break down the word.  Surrection relates to geology, typically meaning upheaval, such as when mountains come up through tectonic plates.  The suffix -ion denotes an action, or condition.  It is a noun suffix.  And the prefix RE means again.  So in a way, resurrection refers to the act of creating an upheaval again, a rising up of something from the earth.

Maybe Covid 19 is the catalyst for such a resurrection.  We needed to sit down in order to be raised up, raised up enough to understand the value of caring for one another. Raised up in order to recognize life’s priorities.

I love the news stories where they highlight people who have gone out of their way to care for those who are frightened, alone, or in need.  Some companies are donating money to food banks.  Some people are buying groceries for their neighbors who are now shut in.  And thanks to technology, such as Google Hangouts and Zoom, we can connect with friends and loved ones we have not seen in a while.

Being forced to slow down our pace of life coerces one to contemplate. It’s hard sometimes to look in the mirror and see not just the made up parts of ourselves, but the cracks that are beginning to show underneath.  Our priorities become etched in ourselves during trying times like these.

It is not easy to remain faithful and hopeful right now. I have been disheartened hearing, or reading the news.  I was hoping NJ would be able to lighten restrictions by the end of May.  Now there seems little hope that will happen.  Our governor speaks of the peak being in mid May, which means we would be at home through June at least.  I worry for the economy.  I worry about our income.  I worry about a family member passing away and not being able to say goodbye.  I worry a lot these days.  It’s hard not to.

I cling to my faith not because I expect God to fix everything, but because I hope for the strength to endure this trial.  But practicing your faith on your own is much different.  It is especially difficult when you can’t physically gather and engage in those rituals that mark tomorrow, such as Easter hats, egg hunts, special greetings.  But the faithful are finding new ways, whether they are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist.  We have to.

So dear Reader, if you are celebrating tomorrow, Happy Easter.  If you celebrated Passover, I hope your virtual seder went well.  And good luck to you who are about to embark on Ramadan’s month long prayer and fasting.

And if you don’t ascribe to any faith, please stay hopeful.

Namaste