The ‘Easter Folks’ Are Missing Out

As we arrive at Easter once again, we cannot help but notice the crowds, the Easter folks who pour into our sanctuaries to pay annual notice of this most holy day in the Christian year. We are thankful for their presence--

thankful because we hope, once again, that they will be open to the gentle prodding of the Holy Spirit. We pray they will feel God at work within them and be healed of the spiritual diseases of our society.

But checking in with God even several times a year means we are looking either for God to provide us with a “quick fix” for our problems or we are only trying to buy a ticket for some future date just in case God has a minimum religious requirement for entry to eternity. But a relationship with God is a process, not an event.

And, if Easter is looking back to a particular event, frozen in time and place, then Easter is only wishful thinking. If Easter were something God did to one individual, no matter how human, no matter how divine, then our celebration of Easter is only a commemoration of a past miracle of God. Then Easter would be only a plaything for our minds and not a covenant for the future.

But Easter is more than that. Easter reveals the intention of God for humanity. Easter reveals God’s choosing to respond to humanity with love and forgiveness, rather than reacting out of anger. And that is only logical. Anger is the child of fear and God, surely, has nothing to fear. God may not know how we are going to act at any given moment, for God has granted us free will, but God knows that ultimately we will come into God’s presence and receive eternal love and forgiveness. God may weep over our individual and collective sins, but God knows the ultimate trajectory of all humankind is toward the wholeness, peace and love God intends for us all.

Yes, we still sin. Yes, we still commit evil acts. Yes, we still exclude other children of God based on their race, culture, religion, economic status and a dozen other things.

But God has the advantage. God is eternal and relentless. God will never let us rest; God will continually work within human souls to lure us toward full enjoyment of life both for ourselves and others. God will never desert us no matter what choices we make on the long journey toward becoming a Community of God.

Easter is all about resurrection. It is about the resurrection of Jesus, but it is also about God’s resurrection of us all from the sins and struggles of this life. As we gather this Sunday morning, we are not just celebrating God’s raising of Jesus Christ from the dead, we are also celebrating God’s continuing action in our world. Easter reveals God’s love as being bigger than our capacity for sin. Easter is God’s continuing forgiveness and love in action.

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On Faith is a forum for Orange County clergy and others to offer their views on religious topics of general interest. Submissions, which will be published at the discretion of The Times and are subject to editing, should be delivered to Orange County religion page editor Jack Robinson.