Easter in the Wake of the Tsunami
by Alex SandersWith Easter approaching our thoughts may be turning to chocolate eggs, Easter bunnies and a short break from work. But to Christians it is much more than that. It is the most important holiday in the Christian calendar where we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and with it the hope of new life and eternal salvation.
Easter Controversy
Yet, surprisingly there is still a certain amount of controversy among Christians surrounding the marking of Easter, even today. Some denominations think that every Sunday should be Easter Sunday since the Resurrection happened 2,000 years ago and it was meant to be once and for all.
Some others want to distance themselves from Easter as they consider it to be a pagan festival with no relevance to the Bible. In olden days, in fact, some Baptists and other Protestants were persecuted for not taking part in its festivities. It is true that the word Easter was "originally the name of a pagan vernal festival...Eastre, dawn goddess." (Webster’s Dictionary).
Some Christians prefer to call it Resurrection Sunday while others associate it with the Jewish Passover, since Jesus was tried, crucified and buried in a hurry to avoid a clash with the Sabbath and Passover celebrations.
Today it is called a moveable feast and it is set according to the lunar calendar. It falls anytime between March 22 and April 25. But even today there is no agreement between the Eastern Orthodox and Western Church. The former set their Easter according to the Julian calendar and the latter according to the Gregorian one. It is often the case that the West may mark Easter in March and the Eastern churches mark theirs in May. Something similar is experienced here in the Far East where we see a divergence with the Lunar New Year. For example the Hindu Lunar Calendar differs from the Chinese and so does that the Tibetan which has a 60 year cycle. This year is the exception when both the Chinese and Tibetan Lunar New Year coincide.
Whichever calendar you follow, most Christians celebrate Easter or Resurrection Sunday, to some degree. Some denominations in fact, mark it with great pomp and ceremony.
My Story
As a young child I remember my maternal grandfather fasting every lent for forty days, according to the rites of the Greek Orthodox Church. Holy week was special, with daily trips to the church. Our mothers, aunts and all female relatives went into a frantic cycle of spring cleaning, baking and cooking.
As Holy Week progressed towards its climax, church services seemed to get longer and longer and more and more solemn. The whole congregation seemed to be involved in Christ’s passion and suffering. The liturgy was imbued with a heaviness and sadness genuinely felt by the majority of the congregation.
I shall never forget a story I once heard of an English minister who was visiting a Greek island one Spring. On Friday night he went for a stroll and it so happened that it was Good Friday in Greece. He saw an old woman sitting on the steps of the local church, crying her eyes out. She was sobbing hysterically. Through an interpreter he was told that she was saying repeatedly: “They have crucified my Lord, they have crucified my Lord.” Out of compassion he tried to tell her that Christ was already risen, to which she replied: “I know. But today is Good Friday and He’s dead!” She really felt the suffering and pain of the crucifiction. I am sure that on the following Sunday, she would be among the first to rejoice and chant “He is risen.”
Indeed, those of us raised in that tradition cannot forget the change in mood and atmosphere when, on Saturday night, at exactly one minute after midnight, the priest would emerge from behind the screen with a lit candle and pronounce:
“Christ is risen,”
to which the whole congregation would respond:
“He is risen, indeed.”
Then the firecrackers and fireworks would explode just like they do all over China during the Spring Festival. We would then make our way home to the joyful peel of church bells until the whole thing was repeated again the following Easter. For the next few days we would greet each other with the words:
“Christos Anesti,”
meaning, Christ is Risen and the other person would respond:
“Alithos Anesti,”
He Is Risen Indeed! It is as commonplace as wishing people “Merry Christmas” or “Happy New Year.”
Looking Heavenward
This year’s Easter comes exactly three months after the big tsunami wave which devastated many coastal regions in the Indian Ocean, killing over a quarter of a million people and leaving three million homeless.
How can we celebrate resurrection and rebirth when thousands of people in our area are still mourning and grieving over their tragic loss? How does the Easter message of resurrection tally with the ruined lives left behind by the tsunami? How can we comfort a father or mother who is bound to ask, “my child is gone for ever, where is God in this?” In the aftermath of the tsunami many people have asked: where is God in all this? It is natural that after a disaster of such cataclysmic proportions one is won't to ask: “why?” and look heavenward for an answer.
Indeed many have wondered how an all-loving God could allow this tragedy to happen. Was this some kind of punishment or warning? What are we to make of this? There are no easy answers and we, as Christians, must be wary of glib ripostes. While not belittling the pain and tragedy of those affected, and while doing our utmost to help them in any way we can, it behooves us as Christians to look at the situation from a spiritual perspective. What does God have to say to the world through this tragedy? Since December 26 many sermons have been preached on the Tsunami and many Scriptures quoted. The Bible is full of warnings of earthquakes and God’s anger when we continue to disobey and ignore His laws.
In Luke 21:11 Jesus said:
“There will be mighty and violent earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be sights of terror and great signs from heaven.” (Amplified Version)
The rest of the chapter goes on to describe terrible happenings and disasters.
As Ravi Zacharias so aptly said in his sermon on Sunday, January 9:
“For years we have been excluding God from our government, our lives, our schools and our relationships. When bad times come we rush in to ask: where is God?”
It seems like a rhetorical question. It is a sad reality that it is in the troughs of life that we find God and not in the highs. Many people will admit that it is while drowning that they call out and reach for help. As one friend once said to me: If God seems far away, who moved?
How the World Has Changed
With Easter 2005 approaching and as we look around us, we see that the value of a person, a people, a community and a nation is measured in hard currency, power and success. Jesus is no longer a role model and Christian values are derided and ignored. The new icons of the 21st century are pop, sport and movie stars. Material comfort and financial prosperity are the fuels of post-modern man.
In our efforts to achieve worldly goals of material and economic success we have dynamited our coral reefs around the Indian Ocean, cleared away the Mangrove trees, flattened the sand dunes and built row upon row of 5-star luxury hotels, discos and bars on the sand. When the waters rose, they were swept away. (Matthew 7:24-27) There is nothing wrong with progress and economic expansion and far be it for us to try and explain the tragic demise of so many as being stupid or foolish. Far from it.
Good people and many Christians died in the flood also. However when, in the race to get rich quick, greed overtakes and certain safeguards and precautions are overlooked, there are always consequences. No one could have foreseen or prevented the earthquake or the tsunami but who knows whether the casualties would have been fewer if these natural barriers had been left in place. What we do know is that after the initial shock there was an overwhelming response to the Relief Fund Appeal and a global effort to try and prevent such future disasters. There is hope for rebirth and resurrection after the tsunami. We see it in the efforts for reconciliation and the talks taking place between the Tamil Tigers and the Singhalese Government, and between the Indonesian Government and the Free Aceh Movement.
Relief agencies and volunteers from different faiths are now working together to help the local people rebuild their lives. These are all rays of hope towards healing. Environmental issues are being taken into account before reconstruction as new building takes place.
A New Beginning
While marking the Moslem Lunar New Year recently, the Islamic leaders in Aceh called on their adherents to look into themselves, to examine their lives, to quit sinning and to do good. It will take a long time as Kofi Annan said, but if this spirit of goodwill and co-operation continues then there is hope for the region. Let us pray that this desire for peace and revival will prevail and that old enmities and divisions will be brushed aside and eventually forgotten in the new birth of a region.
Life is full of tsunamis. Many of us have encountered personal tsunamis – those tidal waves that hit unexpectedly, out of the blue, leaving in their wake anger, bitterness, depression, brokenness, mistrust and unbearable grief. But somehow life goes on. We survive and most of us will admit that we could not have done it without God. As we reach out, He reaches down and plucks us out of the debris. He comforts us and set us down on solid ground. So that we in turn can comfort others in their time of need. (2 Corinthians 1:4) Many a ministry has been born out of personal suffering and distress.
When one asks: “Where is God in all this?” we should remember that there is no amount of grief, pain, humiliation, rejection, mental or physical torture we might experience that Jesus Himself did not suffer. The Cross is a permanent reminder. In answer to the question, “Where is God in all this?” I can only say - at the same place when His Son was crucified on the Cross for our sins.
And remember, after the crucifiction there is always Resurrection Sunday! Amen! Happy Easter: Christos Anesti! He is risen indeed!
~~~~~~~~~~~
Alex Sanders was born on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, raised and spent most of her life in England. Apart from being a wife and mother, she had several careers: journalist, linguist, teacher, lecturer, painter and writer. Her articles have been published in English magazines (both secular and Christian) and The Times (London) newspaper. She founded a ministry called "Beulah" for those suffering from marital breakdown after her own marriage broke up in 1990.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Discover some lessons on inner personal development
