Hope Is Renewed Every Easter

By Gary Hoover (Get to know Gary. See end of article)

The Christian story centers on Holy Week, where fear and love collide. Hope disappears amidst unbearable grief. Then we are completely surprised by the resurrection–and hope reappears on Easter.

Recent shootings in American cities are not unrelated to the continuing violence we perpetrate against “all our relations” in the Creation. We have learned to take without regard, and now as the Holocene slips away like the Garden of Eden, we need more than ever to follow Christ, who gave himself completely and shows us the way of love.  

…My daughter sent me some beautiful photos of dewdrops on leaves and flowers. The dew drops appear along the fractal patterns of leaf and petal. Dew drops are fragile and disappear quickly. But they surprise us by returning as the early morning sun appears each day. When Christ died, he was fragile and vulnerable, but he moved through death into new life and started the work of the New Creation. 

…The Bible tells us that the whole Creation – together with us – is going through the pains of childbirth. God’s spirit is within us and shares every moment of the experience with us, crying out to express our thoughts and feelings with utterances beyond words. God’s spirit also gives us the fruits of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22, 23) which work powerfully to transform us and our world. 

The way of resurrection is the way of the dew drop—returning with each new day. Take time this Easter to renew hope by understanding that the Way of Love will not fail. God promises that one day “there will be no more curse.” That is the way the story ends. We are nested in God’s Love, and God’s spirit dwells within us. 

Love never fails.