On Easter Day of last year (April 21st), my family followed the usual routine: get up, get dressed, go to church, come back to a tasty Easter dinner, and then depart to our rooms for a few hours of quiet-time, during which we allowed our food to digest. (I also returned to the Internet that afternoon after a forty-day break.)
This year, things look different.
Church buildings are closed all over the globe. People are urged to keep a distance of six feet apart from each other, masks are used when going to the grocery store, and it doesn't appear anyone prepped for the big Easter meal. After all, it's not worth risking our health just to run out and pick up a ham and some cranberry sauce.
So, yes, to many people, Easter is ruined. There're no huge bunnies, baskets full of chocolate, or stuffed eggs littering the yard. No friends are coming over and no families are visiting.
Yet, if there's one thing this coronavirus pandemic is pointing out, Easter is not about these things. It's not about big meals and bigger bunnies, nor egg hunts and chocolate. It's not even about going to church.
It's about the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As my mom is fond of remarking, Easter to us as Christians happens every day, not just one day a year. And if we truly believe that Jesus died and rose again to make us new in Him, nothing else matters.
Today, like any day, is the day to shout our joy. Today, like any day, is the day to sing praises to our blessed Redeemer. The government may have closed the church buildings, but one thing it cannot do is close the church itself, Christ's body.
Perhaps God is using this unexpected time in quarantine to keep our focus on Him, and not on the temporary things that slip away like a breath in the wind.
Praise Him today for your health, for the family that's with you, for the fresh new morning and the blooming flowers. Praise Him for the gift of His Son.
HE IS RISEN INDEED.
Click the video to listen to one of my favorite songs by Casting Crowns, "Hallelujah."
