Easter (Pascha) puts current trials in resurrectional perspective

McGirth contrasted the palm branches, which symbolize life, to the willow branches, which signify sorrow and hardship. He urged his listeners to trade their willows for palm branches.

But as much as worshipers may wave their palm branches, proclaiming that Christ is the Savior of the world, heart ache, suffering, sickness and death are the lot of mankind. The woes of Covid, ensuing lockdowns, Russian carnage in the Ukraine, political divisions and loss of loved ones hits our world, our country, state and island hard.

Recently at the repast for departed Rob King, a friend made a comment that Kodiak has had too many funerals. I said that funerals and celebrations of life seem to occur on almost a weekly basis. I don’t think that was an exaggeration. But, as the bishop pointed out, we’re in the season of Easter, the time when we acknowledge that death has been consumed by life. As the Orthodox Pascha hymn proclaims, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.”

Worldly problems. such as war, fear death and the Covid crisis, can throw a person into despair, especially if we focus on the problems, said Father Vasilly Fisher, dean of St. Herman’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Kodiak.

The message of Pashca is that, as mankind faces the most difficult battle, which is death. Christ “allows us the opportunity to see that, through His resurrection, He gives life to the world, so that we don’t fear death,” said Fisher. Christ’s Resurrection removes the “shackles of death,” he said.

“Easter is our hope,” said Rev. David Baldukis of St. Paul Lutheran Church. “Out of the (seemingly) hopeless situation of Jesus being interrogated, beaten and humiliated, put in the tomb,” it ends with the stone of Christ’s tomb being rolled away three days later, the risen Christ emerging victorious over sin, Hell and death.

“There will be hardships, but we know God’s final plan, is to give us restoration,” said Baldukis. “Without Easter there is no hope. Now that the stone has been rolled away, we see the transformation in people.”

If Major David Davis of the Salvation Army could use one word to sum up the significance of Easter, it would be “hope,” he said. Easter “gives us the opportunity to exercise our faith, to bear the fruits of the Spirit.

“This is a prime time for the Christian Church to be what God has called us to be: not doubtful, fearful, but to bear the fruits of the Spirit: kindness, faithfulness. This isn’t the first page in history. God has been faithful all along. It’s our opportunity to be faithful in return,” said Davis.

“Christ’s resurrection shows that death and sin have ultimately been conquered,” said Pastor Matthew Altman of Berean Baptist Church. “So that, though we may go through hard times now, like with Covid, sickness, all sorts of things” they can be faced with an eternal, resurrectional perspective, said Altman. “We know that, ultimately ... we will be with Christ forever. We know that what Christ did on the cross is sufficient, because He is risen,” said Altman. Because of that ... we can look with hope, even in the hardest times.”

Pastor Pisa Faumui of Kodiak Christian Fellowship, said that people must “step into” the reality of Christ’s resurrection and live as those who have been redeemed by His blood. Such a faith will give believers grateful hearts, he said.

“We can’t stop thanking” God for what was accomplished with Christ’s sacrifice, “even through all of the recession” political division and other problems.

The message of Easter is one of unity, he said.

“Only Christ can bring us together as one,” said Faumui. “Whatever it takes, I will make every effort to keep the unity.”

Pastor Brandon Ahrens of the Kodiak Church of Christ, points out that, although Easter is celebrated once a year, Christians should have a resurrectional perspective throughout the year. That is why churches, such as the Orthodox, consider Sunday to be a day of resurrection.

Easter “gives us tunnel vision to get past all of the hardship,” said Ahrens. Easter is “a marvelous reminder that the risen Jesus gives us so much hope, that we can be re-united with people that have passed. We have a marvelous place beyond this world,” said Ahrens.

Baldukis has been at the bedside of many who have passed from this life to the next, and he considers that time spent with the dying, a sacred moment.

As the “curtain of eternity was pulled back,” he could experience the presence of the God in that room, said Baldukis.

In evaluating the message of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, Fisher brings up the thief who died next to Jesus on the cross and, because of his faith and repentance, was promised Paradise.

Even at the end of life, if people find repentance and ask God for forgiveness, “they can find a welcoming by Christ,” said Fisher.

For those who have embraced Christ and His resurrection, “there is a better day ahead,” said Altman. “A new Jerusalem (lies) before us.”

There will be a community Good Friday service today at noon at the Community Baptist Church. Holy Week services, which follow Christ through His arrest, suffering and Crucifixion, begin Sunday at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Cathedral. The Pascha service begins next Saturday night.