Easter People

"We are Easter people."

Whether you're a religious or spiritual human or not, isn't there something compellingly hopeful about the theme of resurrection?

That's why Easter is the best day of the year for me. The holiday is just such a time of joy and celebration, with the pastel color palette, Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, Easter baskets, and the story of a first-century Galilean rabbi who died on a cross and whose friends faced death for claiming to have seen him risen from the dead.

Even though the holiday of Easter is just one day of the year, the story (Jesus rising from the grave) and the season ("Eastertide" for the liturgically inclined) may be exactly what humankind needs as we contend globally with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Pope John Paul II put it this way: "We are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our song."

Perhaps these are just faulty words from a faulty writer. Even so, the story of Easter comes with an invitation: Is it just another myth, or could it even be the best possible news? For the person who can't help but feel convinced of the truth of the Easter story, it can be a story that changes everything.

If that's you, then the invitation is this: would you consider joining the song of an Easter people?

The world needs a lot of things right now: Love. Masks. Ventilators. Tests. Medicines. Vaccines. Healing. Relief. Peace. Cooperation. And, the world needs the voices of all who are Easter people to join in the Easter song:

Alleluia.

Peace and well-being to everyone,

Bradley Collins