Resurrection is not about the resuscitation of a corpse . . . It is about the resuscitation of hope in the face of cruel realities. There is so much in our world that points in the direction of despair: war, hunger, racism, human degradation and abuse, fallenness. History easily suggests that if there is a God, if there is a reality that runs through and beneath it all, this reality is surely not a benevolent God. Resurrection is about the resuscitation of hope that against all odds there is indeed a God, and that God loves us beyond all our furthest imaginings. That is the God that Christians claim to have met in the life and preaching of Jesus of Nazareth.  

- Stephen J Patterson, The God of Jesus: The Historical Meaning and the Search for Meaning (Trinity, 1996), 239.

I read this quote the other day and thought that it fit the week and time so many people are having right now. The scenes in Baltimore, the thought of mentally ill people becoming homeless because of actions of our governor, the deaths of relatives of parishioners, so many of our young people struggling to find jobs, the earthquake in Nepal and those things that you can name now...

While life can knock us down, has knocked us down and will continue to knock us down, life is also about Resurrection and Hope. It is what carries me through the tough times. The death of my father was one of the most difficult experiences of my life and it was one of the most hope-filled times. I saw and felt the love of many and hope prevailed. When I watched the Ku Klux Klan Rally in West Virginia, I saw fear and I saw the hope of a people who said that the Rally would not - could not define the town. When I watch a sister petition a governor for the rights of her brother, I see fear and I see hope. When I watch Grace wrestle with who we are and whose we are, I see fear and I see hope.

May the fears of your life be eased through the hope that came with the Resurrection of Jesus and as it is lived out in the people of God.