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What is Our Easter Hope?

I can’t help but compare Easter 2020 to Easter 2021, and I am feeling hopeful.

We are still the church. We worship together, in person and online. We pray for each other and are helping our neighbors. Let me give you some examples:

  • Some of you may have seen the wonderful video and pictures of Salem volunteers working with HopeBUILDERS the day before Palm Sunday: together they built a wheelchair ramp for the home of a neighbor in need.
  • On Maundy Thursday, as we celebrated our second graders taking their First Communion, Pantry Pack shared Easter baskets, toys, and candy for the first time with our Lenexa neighbors in need.
  • Last month, Salem volunteers gave hand warmers along with food at the Gathering Table, and the time before a man came for food with bare feet in 30 degree weather. He left with dinner and shoes.

I just read an article by N.T. Wright called "Easter Hope for a Post-Pandemic World." (https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2021/april/easter-hope-for-post-pandemic-world.html) He talks about when Jesus tells Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life!" that "Resurrection isn’t just a long-distance, far-off hope. (Nor is it about 'going to heaven'!) It is a person. And it — he — has come forward from God’s ultimate future to burst into the present with new life and new hope.”

Wright continues, “There is a straight line from the heaven-on-earth reality of Jesus’ resurrection to the heaven-on-earth vocation of his followers. By his Spirit, we can be the difference the world needs. We can make the difference the world needs.”

This is where I see my Easter hope. If you want more kindness in the world, put it there — bring heaven to earth. Jesus showed us how to love each other, and we will continue to do so.

In Christ’s love,
Heather Lewis
Director of Music and Worship

Tags: Weekly Word