Easter

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski

Easter is especially joyful for me this year. Just when I feared the stone of despair would never be rolled away, Laurie’s body bounced back in ways two doctors described as miraculous.
We are reminded once again by the violence in Sri Lanka this Easter morning that darkness, suffering and death are a tragic part of our human story. Easter promises it is not the whole story or the end of the story. Easter promises life’s tragedies do not have the last word. God does. God’s Word we celebrate at Easter is a Love that can not be defeated and from which we can never be separated.
Love wins! Love always wins! If love isn’t winning it simply means the story isn’t over yet.
So, on this Easter I turn to the best Easter book ever written – On Beyond Zebra by Dr. Seuss:
“Said Conrad Cornelius O’Donell O’Dell, my very young friend who was learning to spell,
‘A is for ape. B is for bear. C is for camel. H is for hare. On to Z is for zebra. I know them all well,’ said Conrad Cornelius O’Donnell O’Dell.
’From beginning to end, from start to the close. Everyone knows Z is as far as the alphabet goes.’ Then he almost fell flat on his face on the floor when I picked up the chalk and drew one letter more. A letter he’d never dreamed of before.
In the places I go and the people I see, I couldn’t survive if I stopped at Z.
So On Beyond Zebra, it’s high time you were shown that maybe, just maybe you don’t know all there is to be known.”
One letter more. A letter you’d never dreamed of before. That’s my hope for you. That’s my hope for this broken world of ours. Maybe the best way to celebrate Easter is to pick up the chalk and draw one letter more for someone, a letter they’d never dreamed of before. May we prove with our lives that love wins. Love always wins. If love isn’t winning it just means the story isn’t over yet.