Editorial: At Easter 2021, the rays of hope are bright

Easter is a celebration of resurrection. It is about the restoration of life, rising back from the dead.

But resurrection isn’t just about the miracle of the holiday. It is also about bringing something back in other ways. A lost art can be reclaimed. A lost manuscript can be discovered and restored. A neglected neighborhood can be brought back to life.

And now, more than a year after the coronavirus pandemic began, as the reflection of Passover ends for Jewish congregations and the rejoicing of Easter arrives for Christian worshippers, there is something else being resurrected.

On Easter Sunday 2020, we were waiting in the dark. The disease was new. The data was limited. The answers were few.

All we had were simple strategies to hold the virus at a literal arm’s length. All we had were the walls and cloth and distance betweens to try to stop the illness from sinking its fangs into us — and more importantly for many of us, the people we love.

We have spent a year hunting everywhere for the answers we didn’t have. We were rewarded for perseverance with numbers like Easter eggs, hidden surprises we uncovered along the way. This worked. This didn’t. This is better. This is best.

And the big prize has been the vaccine. Three safe vaccines have been authorized in the United States so far, and they are a godsend.

A year ago, there was uncertainty and darkness. Today, there is hope and dawning light.

Easter is the celebration of God’s son rising to fulfill a promise. This Easter is the reward of a prayer answered.

But what comes next?

Just like the story of Christianity did not stop on the day the women visited Jesus’ tomb and found it empty, the miracle of the vaccine is just the beginning. Now comes the work of spreading the word to those who harbor doubts.

It is important that people have as much faith — maybe more — than they did a year ago. A vaccine doesn’t help if it isn’t taken. A disease can roar back to full strength if precautions aren’t taken. A vaccine is a prevention and not a cure.

What we can take comfort in is the distance between last Easter and this one — the difference between restraint and release — and that can give us even stronger belief in where we can be by next Easter.