Easter: Witnessing Christ’s Resurrection through My Toddler
On the night she was born, there were fireworks.
My daughter, Margaret Rae, was born at home in the evening of July 3, 2016. After the midwives went home and a friend brought us dinner, we as a family were in bed when the fireworks from the minor league stadium started to go off. These bursts of lights and sounds underscored our feelings that night holding our new baby.
That first week we kept feeling this excitement as we huddled inside our home as a family of three. At the same time, it felt like the world was falling apart outside. Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge and Philando Castile outside of the Twin Cities were killed, yet two more black men killed by police in this country. Then the massacre of the police officers in Dallas happened all in the following week.
Hearing this news, my wife Jenn and I wondered, “What kind of world did we bring our daughter into? Were we selfish to introduce a child to this kind of world?”
Four months later, on Election Night, we cried wondering the same thing after Donald Trump was elected. “What kind of world did we bring our daughter into?” we wondered, after seeing the country elect a man who disparaged Mexicans, immigrants, women, people of color, disabled people, Muslims, etc… throughout his campaign
On Good Friday, we mourned that Christ was crucified on the Cross for defying a occupying power. As the night got dark on Jerusalem that day, there were no fireworks. I cannot imagine what his parents felt that night as they went home for Sabbath knowing that their son had just been tortured. Did Mary think: “What kind of world did we bring our son into? Were we selfish to introduce a child to this kind of world?”
Watching my daughter grow during the past 21 months has given me a new lens to examine the concept of the Good News on Easter. I worry about the world she is growing up in and how she will be treated. Meanwhile, she just sees the world with awe and amazement at every turn. She loves the park near where we live and she greets all the dogs there. She screams with joy as they lick her. In the morning when I kiss and hug her good morning, she tells Jenn, “I kissed Daddy!” with a grin. She sees the world as full of dog licks and daddy hugs.
This morning we celebrate the news that out of darkness that Christ is risen! He risen from the darkness to proclaim a new beginning! I see that we brought Margaret Rae into a world in which Christ has proclaimed that Love will ultimately win.
