The Power of Easter

Aiya,

It is the 29th of March here in Australia. And that means that all of the people are frantically buying all of the food they will be needing before the shops close tomorrow for Good Friday. The front page of the newspaper is of on of the school’s Easter Hat Parades and the teachers have been giving out chocolate Easter eggs. I’ve sat next to a kindergarten kid on the bus who was happily telling me all about how the Easter Bunny was going to come to his house on Sunday and his dad had set a rabbit trap to try and catch him.

Admittedly, I felt a tad sorry for the poor bunny seeing that those traps are pretty brutal…

But yes. I felt like telling you guys a bit about Easter seeing that our lives tend to keep on moving and being pretty chaotic around this time.

Last weekend, my parents and some of our friends ran a retreat that focused on reflection and just spending time with God before Easter. We’ve started up a Retreat Center and are hoping that more and more people will be able to develop a personal relationship with God.

But this particular retreat was focused on just stopping. Just stopping and leaving our busy life and spending time with God. Not listening to talks, but just reading God’s Word and listening to Him.

Journaling.

Drawing.

Praying.

Singing.

It wasn’t about analysing the stories that we have read countless times and feel like we can recite. It was about looking into what God was saying and just stopping to appreciate how enormous He is. To catch a glimpse of his love in our world which is generally pretty dark.

Back around December I did a post on the meaning of Christmas. At Christmas time we think about the Light of the God coming into the Darkness of the World. Over Jesus’s life, there was light in the world. There was healing there was love. When Jesus died, the world fell into literal darkness. Can I just say that that would freak me out. Just being in the area and suddenly it goes dark.

For a long time.

And for a fair reason. The Son of God was dead. Not unconscious, but dead and with His Father turning away from Him. Jesus who had been with God forever was now forsaken. His weight suspended on nails that pierced through his nerve-filled hands and feet. The weight of all of humanity’s sin pushing down on Him.

And the agony of God turning away from Him.

So often, I find that we dismiss this. We know how horrible it is and how much it is meant to affect us, but we’ve just heard it so many times that it has become pretty normal. We understand and we may wince when we hear the story, but do you feel that ache inside of you that is both horrified and saying, ‘Thank you Jesus. Thank you’?

Sit back and reflect on His sacrifice this Easter. Place yourself at the foot of His cross, listening to His last cry. Allow yourself to feel the agony of the loss of Jesus and feel the terror of the darkness that we are in without Him.

Let yourself not rush through this Easter, just trying to get through the day. Instead sit back and think about Him and talk to Him. Jesus loves you, and He has died and been raised to show the Father’s Glory that we may have life.

Don’t forget the amazing meaning of Easter this year, after all, we have more than one day to think about it.

Here is a song to think about as you go on with your life this Easter.

Enjoy Easter and think and reflect upon it this year!