Easter 2011

Growing up in a Christian household Easter was centered around the Easter Bunny first thing in the morning. Dad made his infamous pancakes as Mom got out her camera and followed my siblings and I around the house snapping pictures. Afterwards we'd clamber into the car and head to Church where the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ became the solid focus. I remember this one time in particular. The older students and younger parents put on a reenactment of what Jesus went through. How He went through brutality from whips and a crown of thorns. How He was paraded around the streets carrying His cross as a crowd followed His every move while some threw disdainful words His way, others cried. Jesus paid for our Sins. For all the wrong doings we as human beings are naturally born into.

From the very start I can say as a small child I understood. I was all about God and Jesus and many of the stories in the Bible. My Mom has often told me a reoccurring memory of how one Easter service I bawled like a baby asking her to not let Jesus get hurt, to go save Him so He didn't have to go through all those hateful things. Then I often asked why people were so mean. How could they hate God's one and only Son? At one point Dad had to take me out of the main part of the church and into the back room to try and calm me down.

At some point in my life the true meanings of Christmas and Easter started to fade and like many on this Earth got into the material side of things. Christmas became about Santa Clause, reindeer and presents. Easter became all about how many chocolate eggs I could find before anyone else could. I would gorge on those meanings as Christ slowly was put and the bottom of the list. How I allowed myself to go about these holidays numbing the Truth in front of others. Even my friends and family were idolized before Christ as these holidays meant less school and more time to laze about the house doing nothing.

Years later, I'm 20 years old. A good section of my life has passed me by. My first year of University finally complete, exams done and over with as our 4 months of summer vacation is starting and we move on. Some of us finished and are graduating, some going away for the summer or getting jobs while others, like myself, are leaving completely to start anew. 

On Friday, Good Friday, the sun was shining, the weather was a comforting warm as a soft breeze hung loosely here and there. I walked to Church that day. Never have I ever been moved by such words, songs and prayer before. Never have I ever taken these words into account and felt like I felt back when I was a child. It hit me. It, as a whole, hit me hard. I walked away from the service reliving what Christ went through and how I'd of gladly given my life for His. I look back and realize how much I've missed from being so naive. How the life I was living was so lost and wrong because of the actions and words I used and had done were not even pleasing but degrading. I was no longer the temple God had made me.

Easter Sunday. The first time ever missing it with my family. I was late missing the bus from my place to campus. In my head I was freaking out yet on the outside calm and patient hoping and praying another bus would arrive soon so I could hear what my pastor was about to say. 1 Corinthians 15 talks solely on Jesus' Crucifixion and Him rising from the dead 3 days later. What got me the most is how much we believe that He rose from the dead but only in spirit, not body. How we belittle what truly happened. 

If we do not believe that Jesus rose from the dead in body and soul, what is the point of going to church? 

What is the point of our pastors standing at the alter telling us about His good news or of His miracles?

Would they not make it better by getting a proper job than doing what they do?

This Easter, is one that has made all the difference in my life. Only a month ago, a week before my 20th I gave my life to God. I was baptized and I've been made new. A new outlook on life and how everything that has happened is so far away. Jesus died for my sinful ways. I'm no longer under Adam's family tree but Jesus'. Yes I'm a sinner. I'll always be a sinner but being apart of Jesus' family, there is hope, love and forgiveness. To strive to want to do better, not because I'm made to. 

So tell me;

Has Jesus risen from the dead in body and soul? 

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What does this mean to you?