Hello everyone, I’m Ty’Ann Brown encouraging you to keep the faith.
Well, it’s Holy Week. This is the time where we mark the events that lead up to Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection.
But this Holy Week, everything is different. As coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, many of our lives have been changed in every conceivable fashion. Some are sick, some are unemployed or overworked, the economy is in peril, and many of us are fearful of the unknown. And most difficult of all for some is this closing off into an isolated period.
But if you think about it, the season of Lent is sort of like a quarantine. Every year for the season of Lent, we give up something to honor Jesus’ sacrifices during His 40 days in the desert. And I know for some of you, you’re saying, “I didn’t intend to give up this much for Lent”. And I get it, it’s a very difficult season.
But if you allow this time to change your thinking a bit, this closing off of doors may be an opportunity to an invitation for an open door to have a greater relationship with God. I believe that this time will allow us to reflect on the things that are really important. I believe that it will invigorate our prayer practice and cause us to hear the voice of God. To see what is it that God really wants to say to us.
So if this virus is our Good Friday, then in some ways, our suffering can be compared to the suffering that Jesus had during His last days on earth. If so, then what is our Easter Sunday? It is our hope and our prayers and our faith, right now in the midst of turmoil, that will lead us into the light.
Peter tells us, “Praise be to God and Father of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Of Easter, the Reverend Billy Graham once stated, “The resurrection of Christ changed the midnight of disappointment into a sunrise of joy.”
So this Easter, know that despite the turmoil of the world’s rolling about us, it will also bring hope and joy and the reawakening in big ways and small. So keep the hope this week, He has risen. God bless you.
