By Hope 103.2 NetworkFriday 15 Apr 2022EasterReading Time: 3 minutes
What does Easter mean to you? For some of us, it’s a welcome long weekend with lots of sport and time to relax. For others, it’s a significant religious moment, an important tradition.
And for others still, Easter provides the reason we can keep going in uncertain times. Easter is our anchor, our hope.
Today we live in a world characterised by uncertainty. We face a series of crises – from the pandemic to devastating drought and floods, the escalating climate crisis, the war in Ukraine and other forgotten places, with millions of people displaced.
Then there’s the crisis of domestic violence in our own homes, the crisis of not having a safe place to call home, homelessness, skyrocketing rents and a lack of affordable housing.
These crises swirl around us and within us; they impact our mental health and wellbeing, they can isolate us, they affect the people we love, and they increase pressure on people who are already struggling to get by.
Where is joy when despair threatens to become not just a moment or a season but our life’s story?
Where do we find hope when life seems to be crashing down around us?
We find hope in Easter.
The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ changed the course of human history. Dare I say it; the resurrection is much, much bigger than the upcoming election!
Because of the resurrection, it’s possible to look death in the face knowing it has no final victory. We can hold on to hope through the most uncertain times, through everything that life throws at us.
Because of the resurrection, it’s possible to look death in the face knowing it has no final victory. We can hold on to hope through the most uncertain times, through everything that life throws at us.
Just as the Easter events separate history, receiving resurrection hope can dramatically change our lives.
When we receive hope, we find that we share a common humanity, where we’re all valuable, and we realise that we’re all inextricably linked. And so it matters that we address climate change, and we’re compelled to welcome people fleeing wars with open arms.
When we receive hope, we recognise that the world doesn’t have to stay the way it is and that together we can use our voices to call for change:
To be part of a movement that says housing is a human right.
To stand with our First Nations brothers and sisters, welcoming national truth-telling and action that underpins real reconciliation.
To be a community that comes together to prevent suicide and be there for people in their darkest hours.
Hope calls us to care for our neighbours, to see their needs, extend our resources and time, and offer genuine friendship.
Hope gives us an inner reserve from which we can cultivate empathy and compassion – where we care less about ourselves and more about others.
And the best part, resurrection hope, can transform us in an instant and for eternity.
Easter hope never ever disappoints.
On that first Easter Sunday, the disciples didn’t so much find hope as hope found them.
Where will you find hope this Easter?
Easter 2022 message provided with thanks to Revered Stu Cameron, Wesley Mission CEO. For more information and resources from Wesley Mission visit wesleymission.org.au