Choose hope, peace and love, and be liberated from your fears this Easter

Sometimes it takes a disruption to remind us that life is shockingly fragile.

Holy Week is a time for us to reflect on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus led the disciples through the streets of ancient Israel and step by step they were transformed by what they saw in him.

They noticed that Jesus treated people with grace and peace. People from all walks of life found a new way of living.

Some stories about his life and teachings are more dramatic than others, however all of them are stories about leaving a life of self-interest behind and entering a grateful life of praise and service.

The story of his crucifixion and resurrection challenges us to become serious about who we are and why we are here.

'Liberate people from their fears'

March 2020 was the beginning of some challenging times for our nation. A Trinity mission group barely made the flight out of San Diego after building houses in Mexico on March 14, and on March 15, we had our last in-person worship service for almost a year and a half before isolation and COVID protocols became the norm.

Sitting at my desk one month later, after officiating my first of what would become many COVID funerals, I began to reflect on how we can meet the spiritual needs of people during this crisis.

A very clear voice came to me, “Liberate people from their fears.”

I tore off a piece of scrap paper and quickly wrote it down, folded it and put it on my shelf as a constant reminder. The more I focused on this principle, the more I could see that it strikes something deep within the human soul.

Our neurological journey in life begins by recognizing threats in our environment. Babies have a fear of abandonment and so they cry. So do adults, by the way.

Childhood trauma is a marker for much vulnerability in later life, including health, poverty and incarceration. We were made to take care of one another! Self-sufficiency is a lie! We depend upon one another to create a just world.

Jesus' final days is a human story about abandonment and embarrassment

The Holy Week story and the Passion of Jesus is a human story about abandonment and embarrassment. When Jesus was arrested, the disciples were afraid. They forsook him and fled.

The cares of this life prevent us from thinking about the most valuable things in life. Things that money cannot buy. I began to see the importance of treating everyone as if they were suffering from a grace and peace deficit.

In today's world, the phrase “Liberate people from their fears” covers a lot of ground. Adam should have been searching for reunion with God; instead God with a kind parental instinct went searching for the human who was hiding.

Imagine a warm grace-filled God calling out your name “Where are you?” Fingers begin to point — first at Adam and then at Eve. Does this sound familiar? So many human frailties follow this same pattern.

Scripture says about the disciples when Jesus was arrested, “They all forsook him and fled.” The Holy Week story of Jesus' final days is a human story about abandonment and embarrassment. We can identify and sympathize and find Christ’s life reflected in our own suffering. God is reaching out to us to help us to live with grace and peace.

Plenty of our personal stories end with the tagline ”So I didn't tell anyone.” The cross and resurrection enabled people to see both the horror of this world and the goodness of the life of Jesus, showing concern for others and pointing toward God's light.

Easter is about Hope and Healing.

Creating a caring community is an urgent remedy for our times

We’ve been through a lot of trauma in the past three years. There is much to be concerned about. Nuclear weapon capabilities and war, climate instability, rogue viruses and the frailty of our own existence on this Earth.

As people of faith we give people hope. We give our family members hope. We give our church hope. We give our community Hope — hope that life isn’t just about taking care of business as usual. Not just hope for ourselves but more than that — hope for the world.

Creating a caring community is the most urgent remedy for our times.

We have found a community that is the solution to isolation and human loneliness. Creating a caring community is the ageless solution to render our fears powerless.

Our friend Jesus reminds us that we must struggle for one another instead of struggling against one another. As the prophet to America, Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us; “I have decided to stick with Love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. Love is the most durable force in the universe!”

That’s really all we need to know. The resurrection message is, “God so loved the world."

Jesus was resurrected, but don’t miss the point; so have you! Choose joy. Choose hope. Choose peace. Choose love. Liberate people from their fears. Let it be so!

The Rev. Kevan Franklin is senior minister of Trinity United Church of Christ in Wooster.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Rev. Kevan Franklin delivers Easter message of hope and love