The friend grumbled that he and his wife had spent most of the service trying to persuade their little daughter to keep her shoes and socks on her feet. Why the problem? Because the preacher began his Easter sermon with the solemn demand: Take off your shoes, for this is holy ground!
The little girl understood the core meaning of the preacher-s message. For Christians, Easter is holy ground! In the Bible, we read that because of Easter, we are born anew into a living hope. Easter embodies the central message of the Christian faith. Out of death, comes life. Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! The Scriptures report that very early in the morning on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the place where Jesus- body had been laid in a borrowed tomb. When she arrived at the tomb, she noticed that the gravestone had been rolled away. To her great surprise, she discovered that the tomb was empty. Jesus was no longer in the tomb. He had risen!
But what does resurrection mean? Out of the frozen ground of winter comes new life. A 96-year-old man was asked, What does Easter mean to you today? The elderly man replied, Easter means that I have only just begun to live! Easter is about God-s resurrection power to give new life! God-s power has destroyed the power of death and despair. Winter is over, Spring has arrived. God-s power can move any stone which seeks to block new life.
At our church, we celebrate Easter with a vibrant Easter Pageant. Our young people share the message of Christ-s resurrection in word and song during a dramatic reenactment of that first Easter morning. At the end of the pageant, our children will give each person in the congregation a packet of seeds as a reminder that we are born anew to a living hope through the power of Easter. Jesus said that a seed, once planted, dies only to produce new life. So too, we are like seeds planted in the world, called to share the promise of new life!
Like the Easter Lily which decorates the altars of many Churches on Easter morning, we are fragrant and in full bloom with hope and joy!
