According to the church calendar, of which very few people follow, we are in the fourth week of Lent. In three weeks the church celebrates Easter. This is the time some people enjoy talking about the Easter Bunny delivering chocolates and chocolate eggs! (Do bunnies make chocolate eggs?)
Easter is also the day the Christian Church celebrates the risen Christ. Some may believe in the resurrection and some may not. But for centuries the only day that is truly unique for the Christian people is Easter. Christianity is the only religion that has witnesses to the resurrection of Christ, the leader of the Church.
But to get to Easter we travel through the period of Lent – a time of passion, a time of hardship, a time of grief. Don’t we all travel these times in our life? Life is not always “up”, it is sometimes “down”.
As a child growing up in an immigrant German family whose parents left the hardships of the 1920s’ and 30’s in Germany to come to a place of renewal and resurrection, I heard many stories of the difficult times. Today we are hearing similar stories from others who have left their homeland to come to a safe haven. The immigrants of today are looking for healing and resurrection for their lives. They are a people who need to know that there is Easter for them as well as for others.
Today when I hear God’s voice during Lent, I hear: “take care of the homeless, care for the widows and the children, provide for those who have nothing, feed and nurture my children of the world”. I see this as a time we should become a sanctuary for the victims of our world and society. Isn’t this the time we, who have so much, stand together for those who are unable fend for themselves? Isn’t this a time when we stand with Martin Luther King Jr. and say: “if a man (person) had nothing worth dying for, then he (she) is not fit to live”?
We are a people of the resurrection, let’s hope we can live to see the day when all are resurrected and at peace. Let us care enough to find this peace for us and others in our time!