GREENSBORO – Danish priest Henry Nouwen once said, “the resurrection is God’s way of saying that despair is never the final word.” That is a comforting, even empowering thought, if you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians profess to believe in it. Their worship on Easter Sunday is the pinnacle of the church year. For them, it is the highest of holy days.
In the first year of Covid-19, my celebration of Easter met with a bit of despair. We were not many days away from the big day when word came that all public gatherings must cease. We were going to isolate until such time as it was safe to breathe shared air. For the first time in my life, I was telling people not to come to church while preparing to preach to empty pews and a camera lens on the holiest day of the year. Nothing felt good about that. The whole situation landed like a sledgehammer through a windshield.
Meanwhile, our town got to work learning how to live in a time of Covid-19. The town emergency response committee met frequently in those early weeks. There were all sorts of mutual aid efforts organized. People were volunteering to pick up groceries, deliver medicine or do whatever needed to be done to keep neighbors safe and healthy. Without any fanfare, neighbors were taking care of neighbors. They were doing exactly the kinds of things that Jesus called his followers to do. Gradually, without realizing it was happening, I came to see the risen Christ in every act of kindness, every demonstration of mercy, and in every heart beating with compassion. The risen Christ seemed to be everywhere. By the time Easter arrived, my experience of it was deeper and richer than it had ever been. Resurrection had happened and was happening. The tomb was empty. Christ was risen. Despair was on the run or at least held at bay.
Now, we are living in a time that brings its own kind of despair. It is not life threatening like Covid-19, unless you are on Medicaid, undocumented, trans, a person of color, or poor. If we just ignore it, it might remedy itself, unless we are a university professor, a late-night comedian, the director of the Center for Disease Control or most anyone else who has an opinion not approved by the current administration. Our schoolchildren now do active shooter drills like we did fire drills. No, this despair will not remedy itself. It will not go away if we just ignore it. Something more is needed.
So here I am holding on to the resurrection like a drowning man in the middle of Caspian Lake clinging to a personal flotation device. Grateful God said on that first Easter Sunday that despair will not have the last word. And so incredibly grateful for all the ways my neighbors, those who identify as Christ followers and those who do not, remind me that despair will not be the final word.
Ed Sunday-Winters is the pastor of the Greensboro United Church of Christ.
Reverend Ed Sunday-Winters
Reverend Ed Sunday-Winters is the pastor of the Greensboro United Church of Christ.
