Easter People in a Good Friday World
Thursday, April 24, 2025
We are an Easter people, moving through a Good Friday world.
—Barbara Harris, Hallelujah, Anyhow!
Episcopal Bishop Barbara Harris (1930–2020) explores how we can celebrate Easter, even in the midst of difficult “Good Friday” circumstances:
The world is full of the misery and pain of Good Friday. We only have to open our daily newspapers, turn on the television to the nightly news … for fresh reminders of the violence, cruelty, want, and need that permeates our world. We have only to examine and reflect on our own lives, our own trials and tribulations, our own cares and woes. We have only to consider how we relate to each other and to our world neighbors. But we are Easter people, and we are supposed to be different.
There are some distinctive characteristics about Easter people that keep us in close touch with this Jesus who says to a grieving Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” [John 11:25–26].
Easter people are believers. We believe not only in the possible, we believe also in the impossible. We believe that the lame were made to walk, and the mute made to speak, that lepers were cleansed and the blind received their sight…. We can believe also that with the helpful presence of God’s Holy Spirit, we are strengthened and sustained on our earthly pilgrimage. Further, we can believe that we can fashion new lives committed to love, to peace, to justice, and to liberation for all of God’s people.
Easter people grieve and need to be comforted. And, yes, Easter people get angry … but we must seek to channel that anger in constructive ways. Be angry enough to say and to seriously mean, I will commit my life to living out the Baptismal Covenant: seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving my neighbor as myself, striving for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being.
Easter people hang in until the end. Like the women who stood by the cross, Easter people live by the words of the old spiritual: “I will go, I shall go to see what the end will be.” [1]
Benedictine nun and poet Mary Lou Kownacki (1941–2023) embraces this resurrection wisdom:
Easter grabs us by the throat and shouts, “Live.” The radiant Jesus who leaves the tomb challenges our complacency with the forces of death, be they hopelessness, fear, discouragement, or lack of will. Don’t let death have the last word in your story, Jesus urges. None of us has the right to sleep in death. Even if there is no angel to help you, grab the door of the tomb that holds you back and rip its seal. There’s too much goodness in you that still needs to rise, and there’s too much work in the world that still needs to be done. [2]
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Sarah Young
This is the day that I have made. Rejoice and be glad in it. Begin the day with open hands of faith, ready to receive all that I am pouring into this brief portion of your life. Be careful not to complain about anything, even the weather, since I am the Author of your circumstances. The way to handle unwanted situations is to thank Me for them. This act of faith frees you from resentment and frees Me to work My ways into the situation, so that good emerges from it.
To find Joy in this day, you must live within its boundaries. I knew what I was doing when I divided time into twenty-four-hour segments. I understand human frailty, and I know that you can bear the weight of only one day at a time. Do not worry about tomorrow or get stuck in the past. There is abundant Life in My Presence today.
RECOMMENDED BIBLE VERSES:
Psalm 118:24 NLT
24 This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Philippians 3:13-14 NLT
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Today’s Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father,
On this day that You have lovingly crafted, I come before You with an open heart and hands of faith and belief. Help me to receive Your blessings with gratitude, trusting in Your vision for my life.
Grant me the grace to refrain from complaining by recognizing Your sovereignty in every circumstance. May my gratitude pave the way for Your transformative power to work many wonders in my life.
Guide me to embrace the present moment by understanding my human limitations. Let me not be consumed by the past or anxious about the future. Instead, let me find abundant life in Your presence here and now.
As I journey through this day, may I rejoice in Your creation and remain steadfast in pursuing Your purpose for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
