I love Easter. Every year, we travel to be with family for a celebration. For my in-laws, Easter is “the big one;” the main annual family gathering. Everyone comes together. And there is a good reason: candy. Easter has the best candy of any holiday, period. Jellybeans, Cadbury Crème Eggs, Peeps, chocolate bunnies, candy-coated almonds, chicks, bunnies, and those carrot-shaped bags of Reese’s Pieces. Easter candy is unrivaled. That’s what Easter is all about, right? A bunch of little kids (and me), all jacked up on sugar, battling a tummy ache, and smiling the whole time. So much joy. Is Easter about candy? No. But it is about joy, so also yes.
Often, when we talk about the time Jesus spent in the desert before he began his public ministry, our focus is on the tempter. But Matthew 4:11 tells us of others who were there: his shepherds.
“Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.”
Jesus’ time in the desert was one of preparation. This January I took a giant leap into the world of ministry and entered study at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH. I am being prepared for a life of ministry. I view seminary in many ways as my desert, a place of preparation. Thankfully, I’m with shepherds, not tempters, but it is my desert, nonetheless. In this season of rebirth, this year specifically, Easter and our family celebration has a special meaning. Thursday will be the end of my first semester. 2022 has been a year of rebirth for me, and this Easter will be an emotional one. We are heading out of town to be with family like we always have, but this trip may well be my last. By next year, duties at a church might interfere with my ability to travel and I’ll be a semester away from my internship placement. I am being prepared for a great change. I am saddened by the possibility of missing the party, and yet this change fills me, like too many jellybeans, with so much joy.
Pastor Rick. That sounds very strange to me, but that will be my reality once I am ordained. The process of listening to the Holy Spirit and choosing to be guided by it has revealed to me that becoming a pastor is what I need to do. This is not what I thought I was going to do even when I began studying, but it has become clear to me that I am being guided to this place, in this time, to live into that mission. God has revealed to me that working in ministry is making me happy in ways I’ve never imagined. So much joy.
As we enter Easter weekend, I wonder, what is Easter for you? Is it the joy of an Easter basket full of treats? Is there trepidation, sorrow? Easter hits all of us in a unique way, and all should be honored. I pray that each and every one of you has a joyous and peace-filled Easter and that the Holy Spirit is there as your shepherd. While my transformation has been visible, dramatic, and (at least at Lord of Life) very public, we are all, all of us, all of you, a new creation in Christ Jesus.
Have a wonderful Easter and enjoy your candy.
Pax,
Richard Ponton, Lord of Life seminarian