It was a different Easter. That is for sure. In my 30 years of ministry, I remember twice when Christmas Eve services were cancelled. One time was in 1998 when Vancouver received 20 centimeters of snow. Vancouver drivers and snow don't mix so we cancelled church. In 2013, Toronto was hit by a massive ice storm on December 22nd. My church still was without power on Christmas Eve and many roads were still impassible due to fallen trees. So we did not have Christmas Eve service that year either.
However, in 30 years of ministry, I have always managed to get to church on Easter Sunday. In Australia, Easter happens in the early autumn and days are very comfortable. In Canada, some Easters have been quite warm. Some have had blizzards. The roads though were always open though and so service went on, rain, sun, or snow.
That was until this year. Due to the Corona virus, we were not able to gather at the church. We "taped" our Easter broadcast on Saturday. On Sunday, I did not leave my house, let alone go to church. I watched our service on the computer just like others did. I watched some religious movies. Brian and I had a wonderful meal alone. It was very different though this Easter in self isolation.
However, Easter still came. The good news (the Easter story) that all life is important and worthy came to us once more- however maybe that message was even a bit more poignant this year not being buried with the other trappings that go along with normal Easters. No we did not get to do the normal Easter things- bonnets, my singing of the Holy City, celebrating with my congregation, gathering later with friends and family- normal was not part of Easter this year. Yet Easter still came. It was different but it was good as well, maybe even better than normal. Blessings
