The One Thing I Know

Easter morning is a lot like Christmas at the Smith house. Oh the smell of the fresh tree is absent, and the wrapping paper isn't scattered all over the house; but it feels like Christmas nonetheless. When the Smith girls were little, Mrs. Smith would fill their baskets with candy and toys, and I'd hide painted eggs in and around the house. The baskets became a little more sophisticated as each girl grew older. This year the baskets included a few toys for the grandchildren, and care packages for the young-marrieds A special church service was always included in our plans.

The celebration began early. We'd be up at 4:30 packing breakfast and hot cocoa. Then we'd bundle the girls up in blankets and shuttle them out to the van for a trip to the sunrise church service. This morning's trip was slightly different. We did pack the breakfast and hot cocoa, but there were no kids to bundle up; and if there were kids rolling out of bed this morning, there wouldn't have been a van to roll them into.

Like Christmas, Easter is a celebration of the gift that God gave mankind by providing the sacrifice that was necessary to cover humanity's stains. In a way, we celebrate the gift at Christmas, and every Easter we get to open it.

There's nothing as dramatic as an Easter sunrise. Hearing the firsthand accounts of the third day events with the warmth of the rising sun pressing the cold of the morning down is a riveting experience. Just like the stone was rolled away from the tomb, the darkness is swept away by the sunrise. The message of Easter presses down on a person just like the sunrise.

   That one morning two thousand years ago stands out in history as life changing. The hundreds of thousands of mornings that have come and gone since then have been uneventful in comparison.

   Easter is more than the celebration of that day. It's also a celebration of the promise that God will welcome those who accept the gift. The resurrection of God's sacrificial lamb means resurrection for all. In that way, the celebration never ends for believers. They live with the knowledge that they will again see their loved ones that passed on before them.

So... the one thing I know in this world of chaos and confusion is... our Creator provided an escape hatch for each of our graves. Clothed in flesh as one of us, God died at our hands in the most brutal way... for us... for you and for me... for our ancestors and for our children. The sacrifice that was required of humanity to gain eternal life (the life beyond the grave) could only be provided by the Creator who could walk away from it... just like we can now.

That's what I know.