This article was originally published as the Rector’s Closing Thoughts article in the Easter Season Bellringer 2024.
Happy Easter! The world celebrates Easter as a singular day with rabbits, eggs, and candy. And while we can have fun doing that too, we also get to enjoy Easter as a 50-day celebratory season of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the ultimate sign that death never gets the final word. Week after week, we will cry out: Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! We say these words when they reflect our own joy, and we also say them as a resistance to the nihilistic voice in this world trying to pull us into deathly despair.
Easter is a season of joy, but it is also a season of hope as we look forward to new life popping up all around us. There is literal new life such as green shoots peeking out of the soil, buds appearing on the fruit trees, and fawns grazing in the meadow. There is the feeling of hope that longer, sunnier, and drier days often bring us. There is also the hope of new life in addictions healed, relationships repaired, and obstacles overcome.
We here at St. Mary’s are looking in hope to the new life that our renovation will bring us as our building becomes more hospitable, accessible, safe, and environmentally responsible. It is certainly a challenge as we navigate the construction, but we look in hope to the transformation that we are creating. We are making St. Mary’s a more welcoming space that better reflects our welcoming hearts and dreams. Celebrate in joy and hope with me this season.
Bingham+
