Easter message shines through season of darkness

FAITH MATTERS

Easter week has always been a week of dichotomies.

It is characterized by sorrow, then joy; darkness, then light; separation, then unity.

For the Christ-follower, there is no more emotional week in the year than Holy Week.

However, this year, for me at least, the profound emotions that accompany this week seem somehow even more pronounced, more distinct.

As I write this, millions of Christ-followers are preparing for their Tenebrae services. These special services are usually held late on the Wednesday of Holy Week or early on the morning of Maundy Thursday. Tenebrae, from the Latin, means darkness. At the beginning of the gathering, 15 candles are placed in a stand called a hearse, and then lit. Throughout the service, the candles are extinguished, one by one, following specific Scripture readings and prayers.

The motif of extinguishing the Light has impacted me on a deeper level this year.

Beginning with Palm Sunday, a bittersweet experience at the best of times, this week was shadowed by the bombing deaths of 43 Coptic Christians in Egypt as they gathered for worship. More than 100 are reported as being injured in the hate-motivated blasts.

Unfortunately, attacks on Coptic Christians are commonplace by terrorist groups, including ISIS. This wasn’t the first, nor will it be the last such deadly assault, but this bombing shook me more than other recent attacks.

Perhaps it was because I knew that the gathered were going to hear and study the same passages of Scripture that we were going to hear and study. Perhaps it was because we shared the same Palm Sunday bittersweet feeling we have as our Lord was cheered and feted so vigorously knowing that rejection and pain awaited Jesus. Perhaps it was because despite all our lip service to proclaiming peace, I really don’t do enough to pursue it.

It was a real-world example of the light of Christ being extinguished.

But, as I said, the Easter week is a time of dichotomy. It’s the gift of light through the darkness.

So, we hold fast to the words of Paul from his first letter to the church in Thessalonica: “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.” (1 Thess. 4:13-14)

Easter is so much more than eggs, chocolate and bright colours. It is hope. It is grace. It is peace. It is mercy.

It shouts to the world that the Light of the world has returned, and that He has completely and eternally conquered the darkness of death.

More so than ever, we cling to the truth proclaimed at our Easter gatherings: He is Risen.

He is risen, indeed … and thank God for that truth. Rev. Brad Peters is the pastor of First Baptist Church Niagara Falls (3900 Dorchester Rd.) and serves as chaplain to the Niagara Falls Fire Department. You can contact him at 905-3547836 or bpeters12@cogeco.ca