This weekend we celebrated Easter. The resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. A day marked with surprises, joy, celebration, and triumph. On Easter, those early disciples found the tomb empty, because Jesus had risen to new life! “He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!” we shout.

This year, our churches laid empty on Easter Sunday. At Ferncliff, the grounds stayed quiet rather than being filled with the exclamations of Easter Egg hunters. Our Forest Church was invited to worship with the sunrise from their homes.

This year, we took porch pictures in Easter outfits that wouldn’t leave the house. We ate Easter meals with family members on Zoom. We watched churches struggle with putting all their Easter traditions into a Youtube video. We tried, in our own way, to hold on to the normalcy of traditions amidst the chaos surrounding this pandemic.

But maybe this year we’re understanding something new about those early disciples. Hidden in their houses, afraid that their connection to Jesus would lead to their deaths, they did not know what was to come. They did not know when they would see their friends and families again. Sometimes they gave up hope, forgetting that they had been promised new life. For many of them, Easter was just another day of grief, separation, and pain. It would be days, or weeks, or months, until they knew of the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection.

But there is a reason we celebrate on Easter. Because in the moment that Jesus returned, the promise was fulfilled. The victory was won. God had overcome. No matter when people heard about it, God’s presence with us was assured from that moment on.

And right now we need that Good News. We need that joy, just as much as those early disciples did. We need to hold on to that hope, however distant, that God makes all things new and that we will be together again.

So let us celebrate. Let us celebrate, with joy, the surprise of God’s triumph over death, and God’s promise of new life. He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Jocelyn Wildhack is our Camp, Events, and Forest Church Coordinator. She is soon to be ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).