Easter Story

I am in love with Christianity, but I am also overwhelmed by all the trauma and bloody history this word represents. So I will say I am in love with Christ, this remarkable faith that God became man to reconcile us to Himself in an act of ultimate love. The wonder of it thrills me. Love as the transformational core.

What is like this in all the world? What other philosophy could take a home bereft of goodness, filled with evil intent and cruelty and instead resurrect a broken man and woman (my mom and dad) and usher them into a new and transformed life able to give tenderness, healing, and joy?

I think of this as I watch a movie of a young child born into squalor and disloyalty. It is called a “The Quiet Girl” and was filmed in Ireland. I think of my dad throughout the movie. The story moves slowly around the transformation of a young girl. She is a wretched, unkempt, abused child who encounters what love looks like and is reborn. The film is full of images of baptism. As I watch this movie, I am alive to the conviction of joy to praise God and His redeeming power. The story of this young girl is the nod to the Easter story, the Christ-infused story of new life.

The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. – 1 Corinthians 15:42-44