quotations about Easter
We ask that streams of Easter light might flow into the intimacy and privacy of our hearts this morning, to heal us and encourage us and enable us to make again a new beginning.
JOHN O'DONOHUE
Walking in Wonder
In a world where Christians are subject to terror in Egypt while celebrating Palm Sunday, where Syrians are attacked with chemical weapons, where mosques and synagogues are vandalized with the graffiti of hate, and where immigrants are presumed guilty, Easter matters. The resurrection that many of us will proclaim in liturgy and song on Easter Sunday is not an annual religious ritual. It is way of living that walks in genuine solidarity with anyone who is victimized by the hubris of the powerful, because resurrection means the culture of death will never have the last word.
MARK DAVIS
"Easter is the time to give consideration to the resurrection", Los Angeles Times, April 13, 2017
Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord's Prayer is about.
N.T. WRIGHT
Surprised by Hope
Easter is not about a bunny, it's a reminder that my Jesus died on the cross for my sins and then rose from the dead defeating death!
JUSTIN BIEBER
Twitter, April 2018
In the bonds of Death He lay
Who for our offence was slain;
But the Lord is risen to-day,
Christ hath brought us life again,
Wherefore let us all rejoice,
Singing loud, with cheerful voice,
Hallelujah!
MARTIN LUTHER
"In the Bonds of Death He Lay"
I've never known what to make of Easter. For evangelicals, the big day is Good Friday, when Jesus dies for our sins so we can avoid being tortured forever in hell. Easter is like the confirmation email that the payment went through.
MORGAN GUYTON
"Can Easter be more than the church's self-congratulatory triumphalism?", Patheos, April 16, 2017
The air is like a butterfly
With frail blue wings.
The happy earth looks at the sky
And sings.
JOYCE KILMER
"Easter"
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living, just because He lives
GLORIA & WILLIAM J. GAITHER
"Because He Lives"
The only cross in all of history that was turned into an altar was the cross on which Jesus Christ died. It was a Roman cross. They nailed Him on it, and God, in His majesty and mystery, turned it into an altar. The Lamb who was dying in the mystery and wonder of God was turned into the Priest who offered Himself. No one else was a worthy offering.
A. W. TOZER
Preparing for Jesus' Return
In autumn I saw these violets die, and I was sad. But this spring I watched them come back to life again. Easter is like that. It is violets, and daffodils, and lilies. It is happiness, and joy, and shining things. It is sunshine!
ANONYMOUS
The Lutheran Standard, 1972
Easter is reflecting upon suffering for one thing, but it also reflects upon Jesus and his non compliance in the face of great authority where he holds to his truth -- so there's two stories there.
MICHAEL LEUNIG
"Quotation Saturday: Easter", Scheiss Weekly, April 19, 2014
During this last Holy Week, we saw rituals in which Christ's walk to the cross is understood as a spiritual path others can follow in different ways. In some churches, there was a washing of feet as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, a lesson in humility that helps others. We had Good Friday, the blackness of the crucifixion sacrifice, and then Easter, the resurrection that speaks to so many of joyous hope, of uplift, of rising high and in which all blooms anew. Theologically, there is much more, of course, but the non-religious who are also open-minded can surely see the power of a world-moving narrative and the moral good that has spread so far.
JAY AMBROSE
"Easter is about the newness of life", Burlington Times News, April 16, 2017
O chime of sweet Saint Charity,
Peal soon that Easter morn
When Christ for all shall risen be,
And in all hearts new-born!
That Pentecost when utterance clear
To all men shall be given,
When all shall say My Brother here,
And hear My Son in heaven!
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
Godminster Chimes
If man had his way, the plan of redemption would be an endless and bloody conflict. In reality, salvation was bought not by Jesus' fist, but by His nail-pierced hands; not by muscle but by love; not by vengeance but by forgiveness; not by force but by sacrifice. Jesus Christ our Lord surrendered in order that He might win; He destroyed His enemies by dying for them and conquered death by allowing death to conquer Him.
A. W. TOZER
Preparing for Jesus' Return
O Christ, whose cross began to bloom
With peaceful lilies, long ago,
Each year above thy empty tomb
More thick the Easter garlands glow;
O'er all the wounds of that sad strife
Bright wreathes the new, immortal life.
CAROLINE SPENCER
"The Easter Cross"
Spring bursts to-day,
For Christ is risen and all the earth's at play.
CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI
"Easter Carol"
Here comes Peter Conttontail
Hoppin' down the bunny trail
Hippity hoppin', Easter's on its way
GENE AUTRY
"Peter Cottontail"
In your Easter bonnet
With all the frills upon it,
You'll be the grandest lady
In the Easter parade!
PERRY COMO
"Easter Parade"
Hundreds of barefoot Filipinos marched on the roads through the Philippines carrying heavy wooden crosses and whipping their backs until they bled to prepare for Easter. Call me old-fashioned but I just like coloring the eggs.
JAY LENO
The Tonight Show, Apr. 6, 2012
God expects from men something more than at such times, and that it were much to be wished for the credit of their religion as well as the satisfaction of their conscience that their Easter devotions would in some measure come up to their Easter dress.
ROBERT SOUTH
Sermons