The ever-present hope of Easter

Brightly colored kites  filling the skies. That’s how Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Sunday, is celebrated in Bermuda. The exuberant display commemorates a missionary who, according to legend, was having trouble explaining Christ Jesus’ disappearance known as the ascension. The missionary drew a picture of Jesus on a kite and sent it sailing, then cut the string once it was high in the sky.

The Easter season reminds us of the ever-present Christ that Jesus embodied. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered the Science of Jesus’ teachings, defines Christ as “the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 583). Because God, Spirit, is eternal and ever present, His spiritual idea, Christ, must also be eternal and ever present, raising us into the light of health and hope, which St. Paul describes as “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

Maybe we don’t always feel that presence. Maybe we feel that our connection, our reason for hope, has been cut, and that hope is sailing away, never to be seen again. This is why the experience of Jesus’ students, or disciples, during and after the crucifixion speaks to us today. The Easter story tells of when they felt that way as well.