Ever since my husband and I started a family more than 30 years ago, Easter has been a big deal at our house: New dresses for the little girls, suspenders and crisp shorts for the little boys. Corsages or big bunches of daffodils. Coloring eggs and hiding them over and over…and over. See’s candy, Jelly Bellies, pastel M&Ms and Peeps in Easter baskets (or flowerpots painted with the kids’ names or big cereal bowls or sand buckets or hats…) A big Easter brunch of eggs and bacon, potatoes, blintzes, OJ and coffee after sunrise service. It’s not that we didn’t know the day was about Jesus rising from the dead. We definitely did, and we wanted to celebrate the Good News in a big way.
This Easter is different.
Even at UGM, this Easter will be different. We can’t invite the community in for a Sunrise Service by the river like we have for as long as we can remember. Greg won’t be standing on the stage in his black hat, singing hymns in his gravelly voice as the sun reflects off the water and begins to warm the chill air. Steve can’t come in to make the big, sticky cinnamon rolls.
I love these things. They reflect all the things I love in life – family, friends, food, community – but they are not the best thing.
The best thing starts today with Good Friday, with seeing the lengths to which God was willing to go to have a relationship with us.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32
The best thing is God’s love.
When all the other good things start to fall away, I am prone to doubt God’s love. If he really loved me, he would __________. Fill in the blank.
Good Friday, followed by Easter, is one of the ways that God binds my heart to his.
God's love makes change possible for us all.
2 min read
The 2025 Life Recovery commencees have journeyed through deep valleys of struggle and hardship. Yet, with resilience and grace, they have emerged...
4 min read
Chrystin struggled with alcoholism for sixteen years before entering UGM’s recovery program. “I felt so defeated and was lying in bed, drinking, just...
3 min read
At Union Gospel Mission, we understand that meeting urgent needs—food, shelter, medical care, and job training—is just the beginning. These are the...
Union Gospel Mission : March 15, 2016
By Sonny Westbrook, Director of Ministries The celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is a high point of the year for...
Union Gospel Mission : April 6, 2022
Guest post by UGM Staff Chaplain Sonny Westbrook, originally published March 15, 2016. The celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ...
Genevieve Gromlich, former Content and Communications Manager : March 11, 2021
Easter. Just the word evokes thoughts of bird song and budding tree branches, spring dresses, pastel button downs and family photo opportunities in...
Barbara Comito, former marketing director