For many, there’s a special feeling about being in church on Easter. But what is it about the holiday that evokes sacredness? It must be more than just tradition and ceremony. Isn’t it the wonder of Jesus walking toward the crucifixion, laying down his life for his friends, and then rising in the resurrection and ascension, proving he had overcome the material world? For many, this time holds a feeling of awe about the power of divine Love to redeem us from even the most egregious circumstances.
Easter, in Christian Science, confronts us with this great challenge: to have faith in life and good, right where death and evil appear to be reality. It invites us to leave the concept that we are born into this world and will find eternal life after death, and to accept instead that that which is immortal is eternally immortal. We “come into the spiritual resurrection by quitting the old consciousness of Soul in sense” (Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 179). And we find a new consciousness by letting Jesus’ example of resurrection confirm for us the indestructible nature of life as the expression of God, infinite Life.
We can practice some measure of this spiritual resurrection daily through our study and application of Christian Science. Facing the tenacious belief of life as material, and rising higher in spiritual understanding, we can follow Jesus. In this way, we begin to emerge from the darkness of life as mortal into the glorious light of immortal being—coexistent with our creator, God.
