Have A Little Faith in We

Happy Easter my sweet friends!

There are so many aspects of this season that I just love. 

Starting with Lent. Is there a better set of stories to remind us that Jesus came to be fully human and surrounded himself with a crazy bunch of them? If you have wondered if and where you belong – be sure to read about Jesus beloved followers and I am confident you will feel in exceptionally good company.

Then it is the concept of new life, rebirth and being refreshed. If you have been here for any matter of moments, you have to know how much I love a new beginning, a fresh start – the simplicity of an empty notebook. The idea that starting a new is there for the taking is something that has always spoken to me and Easter is truly the supreme example.

And with that feeling of new, it is also the start of the winter melting away and the welcome of a brighter, warmer, and more alive season. Can God’s attention to detail be any more amazing? It is as if those who may not have found their way to the religious practice of new, God has found a way that it comes to them too. We are all reminded of possibility with nature and often the seasons of life that come now too: graduations, weddings, travel and creating of memories.

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For me it is a season that has always brought such clear life moments: I remember the Easter I was studying for a really big internship opportunity that would determine my post-college graduation plan. I remember the Easter I was engaged that really kicked off our summer wedding season. And perhaps most powerful, and most recent, I become a mother a little more than a week before Easter. This season for me has often been one that presents incredible newness, just as we celebrate Jesus leaving the tomb.

But even with all these incredible experiences, memories, and fondness for Easter and Spring… there is always one thing that needs to happen for me to really feel connected: the story of doubting Thomas. It was featured this Sunday and that is when I truly start to feel the strongest in my celebration. It is when Jesus specifically calls out to me: “Blessed are those who have not see and believe”. Yes, I am sorry Thomas to double down on your infamous story, that perhaps is not your favorite (although I would encourage you to see it as a claim to fame scince it made so many of us feel normal), but for me we can now really celebrate. As Jesus knows the limits of our human spirit and commends those who do their best to have faith despite our abilities.

No matter when you have celebrated it, I hope this season has found its way to you – as we are all a people of Easter. But if there is a reason it has not found you… or perhaps you find yourself doing your best, but feeling so disconnected from it, this season might especially be for you. Because as I was reminded this year, through a few different lessons in Lenten studies, how Easter came to be was through the rejection of the world. It was a result of disgust, ugly, broken, bloody, betrayal, denial, shame and many more intense and undesirable experiences. Yes, we celebrate with beautiful colors, polished family photos, new Easter looks, and the most perfect social media worthy gatherings – that isn’t what made Easter possible. It was the result of a scene with a man hanging on cross that chances are most of us, in our beautiful Easter looks, could not have stomached to view. It had to be that way…. because that is the only way to pay for the sins of us all…. and remind every single one of us that we are all a people of Easter.

Thank you so much for reading and remember to make it a great day!

Jackie