The primary reason for my love for Easter may be obvious. Without Easter I would have no hope for redemption and communion with God. Jesus died, as all men must do; yet, He rose from the dead in His own strength, as only God can do. Further, Jesus was the first to die raise from the dead never again to die. This God-man took my place and died to redeem me. Because He lives, I, too, shall live, die, and be raised to eternal life. This reason is enough to claim Easter as the highest day in my holiday calendar.

There is another reason why I claim Easter as my most loved day. When I was nine years old, I had undulant fever and was hospitalized for a time. When I came home, I was bedfast for several weeks, and then homebound for more weeks than I want to remember. My first excursion was Easter Sunday. I was so excited to go out to church. I knew what I would hear, but I never tired of the story. There is a unique tone to Easter in contrast to all other religious holidays. Even Christmas pales in significance to Resurrection Sunday.

Of course, there was the buildup at home: The house had been scoured from top to bottom; dyed eggs; maybe a chocolate egg or bunny in our old Easter baskets; new clothes to wear (or at least a new hat and shoes to complement a hand-me-down dress); a special Easter meal in the oven, with guests invited to dinner. That alone was enough to create excitement.

I recall that Easter day. It was cool enough for a light coat, but it was sunny. Piles of snow remained in the church parking area where it had been plowed and not melted. I had missed the snows. I wore a new pink dress. It sort of hung on me, because I was so thin from my illness. But I felt a renewal. Easter was alive in me. Life could go on.

There had been times throughout my acute illness when I thought I would die. It was an exaggerated fear, but it was real to my childish mind. I was miserable with fevers, loss of appetite, weakness, loneliness, nosebleeds, daily Penicillin shots, and other discomforts.

Now I was in church again … the day we would sing the great hymns of Christ’s Passion and the anthems of Easter morning … Up From the Grave He Arose! Hope returned in the reading of the Resurrection Scripture passages, and the visual celebration of the bread and the cup. Nature burgeoned forth and fortified the hope of life all about us. All of Easter melded together to lift hearts upward in praise to God. “He is risen! He is risen, indeed!”

I didn’t comprehend this well at age nine, but I felt a part of the life given that Easter Sunday morning. Although I was helpless when I was ill, at least the medicine worked and I recovered. Unlike my illness, as a sinner before God, I was more than helpless; I was hopeless … not sick but dead. Only Jesus’ resurrection could give my dead soul life.

This is why Easter remains my favorite holiday.

After two full months of cold
that shoveling out gets rather old
and I’ve considered move to Mexico.
Now its piled both high and deep,
and I have tossed it in a heap
as far as futile efforts I can throw.

Sure, it’s pretty, I’ll admit,
but I would like it now to quit
so once more I can travel to and fro.
I am grateful for each day…
look forward to the month of May
when “snowbirds” from the south will north-ward blow.

“This funny”, he says, “that six weeks of the cold
Does on my ol’ shadow depend…
And six weeks of snow, ice, and wintery mix
will come before winter shall end.

“The first day of spring, in case you didn’t know,
Is more than six weeks from today,
But I say that hope in my shadow is vain:
‘Tis weather or not anyway!”

We grieve in different ways …
With tears or silence or regret;
With normal functions all upset;
With thoughts of what we should forget;
Not knowing what to say.

We who are left behind
Must grapple with mortality.
The fallen leave a legacy
That all will face eternity …
Nor can death be declined.

If we can understand
That Purpose guides experience,
And when it seems as little sense
That life is cut at great expense
There is a Higher Hand.

No death is met in vain,
For there are never accidents
In God’s all-perfect Providence …
He makes no selfish ordinance,
But rather timeless gain.

We say our last “adieu”,
Yet we who meet to pay respect
Would face a certain grim prospect
That by the Sovereign Architect
Next meet for me or you.

Some say that God is punishing the country of Haiti for their Satanic activity; others say that Satan has caused the disaster; still others say that it is merely an event that God will use for His glory; and others tell us that it is caused by global warming, natural phenomena, or any of a variety of reasons.

I wonder if we aren’t looking at this all wrong. In the history of God’s people from the beginning of time, more often God has used events of both nature and supernatural means to bring His own people to their knees. Is it as simple as that? Or as complicated? Perhaps.

When I hear that believers are praising God in the midst of this disaster, I know that God is being glorified. When I hear of Christians leaving the comforts of their homes to go and help, I know that God is being glorified. When I hear others praying to God for these people…for their safety and their souls, I know that God is being glorified. When I hear the appeals for funding by Christian organizations that can provide relief to the victims, I know that God is using this for His own greater glory.

Do we rejoice, then, that the tragedy happened? What a horrible thought! No, but we praise God that He is working for His glory and then consider how we can work out our own Christian faith in the mix.

Pray…give…go … This is the missionary mantra that we have heard over the centuries, and it still remains the appropriate response to the needs of the world about us, including the present tragedy. Pray for that one soul who will renounce his denial of Christ and follow the Savior; give to help rebuild the necessities of life for those who have been made in God’s image; go, if you can, to bring life and light to those who may remain in darkness both physically and spiritually. Leave the theology of the event to God.

mix well and refrigerate several hours before serving

Hark! Light now fills the sky!
An angel bathed in light appears.
We fall upon our faces. Fears
that as the heavenly choir nears
we’ll perish where we lie.

Dark? Gloomy? Night is gone!
The angel says we need no dread:
The Christ is born in manger bed.
“Go see the infant…good news spread,”
the angel choir swelled.

Why infant, not a king
to bring fair rule upon the earth?
And why with such a humble birth?
Could not He bask in worlds of worth,
brought on an angel’s wing?

Why? Why not a feed box?
By humble birth He comes, a man,
indentifying with our clan…
(It was the Father’s perfect plan)
low, with sheep and ox.

 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father…Philippians 2: 5-11