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Vol. Ill, No. 3
March/April, 1977
Throughout our nation Christian people of all faiths have assembled to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus the Christ from the dead. Some are on quiet hillsides awaiting the dawn for a sunrise service. Others gather with friends and kinfolk in simple chaples in backwoods America; while others sing with joy in the great liturgical ceremonies of a stately cathedral. The setting may differ greatly but a common unity binds them all. That unity is ginuine joy that Christ is risen, that He has conquered death. Somehow we all feel a little more secure becaule of His triumph. There is growing conviction that with Him we have someone to believe in and therefore a great deal to hope for.
nation on earth, we cannot adequately heat our homes. Our schools and factories are forced to close. Gasoline rationing or a serious rise in price threatens to end the travel plans of many. Numerous places in our land face drought and food shortages. The scars of the worst winter of the century are felt by almost everyone in the Eastern section of our nation. Families are falling apart at an alarming rate. Little respect is given to the life of the unborn or of the elderly. Drugs and alcoholism threaten to sap the strength of a once strong people. For many people this litany of woe has saddened them to the extent they have lost hope, and in despair think only of themselves and how they can survive.
It is good for us all to find comfort in the Easter joy and hope, but it is equally important for us to realize that there would be no joy and hope of resurrection without the sorrow and apparent failure of Good Friday. On every count Christ had seemingly failed. He was rejected by the people, condemned by the priests and synagogue, shrugged off as crazy by his relatives, abandoned by his friends and executed by the Romans. By the logic of the world this was the end of the affair. His star had burnt brighter for a time in the Judean sky but crucifixion and burial had brought it low. There would be no tomorrow. Yet, as we all know, there was a tomorrow,
Yet Easter is a powerful remainder that, for a man who places his faith in God and the teachings of Christ there is no need to despair or panic. Christ has the answer to every problem, the healing grace for every illness. If all of us unite ourselves with the risen Christ of Easter we shall have the strength, courage and perseverance to bind up the wounds of a suffering world. We can breathe new life and hope into a disillusioned people. In a word, we can renew, the face of the earth. The people of God once turned a pagan world into a better place. Easter reminds us that God gives the grace to us all to achieve a similar result in our own time.
and history knows no greater name than that of Jesus Christ. His invitation today is as exciting as it ever was: “Come follow me for with me you can do all things.” The message of Easter has to have a special significance for us today. Our modem world has apparently failed. Bandits and fanatics take over buildings and terrify the innocent. Wars rage in various comers of the globe. In the Holy Land conflict is only a mistake away, while South Africa promises to unleash a racial blood bath that will sicken the whole world. Even here in the United States, the richest
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