Some years ago a newspaper editor telephoned and asked me to tell in a few words what Easter means to me. My testimony was this: Easter means Christ to me. It means Christ in His kingly splendor, Christ in His serene glory, Christ in His gracious condescension. This is because Easter is the return of Christ from inflicted violence, from induced death, from imprisonment in a tomb. Easter is Christ triumphant over all that sin and death and man could do to Him. Easter means Christ.
And where Christ goes, drama goes. For it is impossible to look anywhere in the Gospels and fail to find something powerful happening. This is because Christ is Himself the Gospel and He is life, abundant life, and His life means action, pilgrimage, arrival. Easter means life. Christ defeated death in order that life in Him might always live. And it is life that we want, life in Christ. Whether we put it in words or not, our constant thought is “Life, more life, always more and more life.” We want life in ourselves, in our loved ones, in our friends, the kind of life that cannot be diminished, the kind of life that always expands. Easter is Christ’s victory over all that would restrict, deny and strangle life. “For to me to live is Christ.” That is Easter.
—Raymond Lindquist
Hymns for the Family of God
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