goodmorningpapua.com – Celebrating and undergoing the Easter Sunday (starting from Lent to the weeks after Easter) is a very appropriate moment for Christians to contemplate seeking the true meaning of life in long meditation, prayer and meditation.
The key ingredient in authentic Christianity is “time”. Not time left, not time wasted, but time or the right and quality opportunity to have and to explore as well as to feel the warmth of the love of others around us.
In the Christian faith this quality time is provided and is available for 100 days per year in the Lent [Pre-Easter] to Post-Pentecostal momentum (7 weeks before Easter to the week after Pentecost).
This is the most beautiful time for contemplation, meditation and reflection in search of the true meaning of life without in hurry and no distraction.
Easter is an important moment in which each person undertakes and experiences a life-changing process, namely evaluating the pattern of life a year ago, improving understanding of oneself and fellow human beings and the natural environment, experiencing love and forgiveness from God, setting new commitments and plans for life in the future that is more consistently and in accordance with the values of love and forgiveness from God Almighty. Namely the commitment and plan to live according to the love of Christ as stated in I Corinthians chapter 13 (especially in verses 4 to 13).
Apart from the various sermons and ceremonial rites in the church and fellowship of worship, long contemplation accompanied by appreciation of the meaning of life (contemplation) is very important in managing personal life, and gradually family and community life towards a civilized and dignified life in the unity of diverse citizens of nation. The civilized and dignified life in question is a pattern of life based on moral and ethical values as well as aesthetics
Long contemplation of the values mentioned above is very necessary in building a civilized life fairy. Without contemplating patterns of behavior and of action based on moral, ethical and aesthetical values, people will lose control and fall into humiliation, unlawful acts and collective decisions which in turn will lead to destruction.
Christians are always required to live as “primary and special individuals” (primus inter pares) in the midst of an atmosphere of social, national and state life. A long process of contemplation needs to be carried out to give a quality to personal life in order to become the main and special person as written in the scriptures with the analogy of “becoming salt and light of the world”.
The long celebration week for 100 days (49 days of Lent, Good Friday, Christ’s resurrection plus 50 days after the resurrection or better known as Pentecost) is actually a moment which is interpreted as times in which Christians make repairs and strengthen the relationship between God and humans, improving relationships with fellow humans, and strengthening human relationships with the natural surroundings.
Improvement and strengthening of relationships between fellow humans, between humans and God, as well as between humans and the nature is a way to escape from the realities of life that tend to distance or disguise the glory of God in human life. On the other hand, the improvement and strengthening of the relationship between man and God as well as nature can be seen as a way or a method to strengthen and strengthen charitable solidarity.
It is undeniable that frequently the church and its congregation fly away in the euphoria of sacred celebrations without realizing it. The euphoria of celebration that blares so loudly as possible that we are unable to hear and see how the world we are in is in a condition of various disturbances, obstacles, obstacles, challenges and even threats that arise due to human behavior and the natural surroundings.
Various bad and vicious realities are seen in the form of acts of blasphemy, slander, envy, hatred and revenge that are rampant in relations between humans, ethnic groups, races, religions, and community groups both horizontally and vertically with the government. Various realities of life that are wraped in bad communication and tendencies and pretensions to outperform each other (if you don’t want to be called slaughtering each other), spiced with insults, insults between fellow citizens, fellow congregation or community members tend to attribute respect, appreciation, justice, peace and integrity among fellow creatures in the name of Religion, Human Rights, justice and various other political intrigues.
Celebrating and living Easter Sunday, not just celebrating or holding ecclesiastical celebrations with long and solemn rites and ceremonies. Celebrating and living Easter Sunday is the most beautiful time to examine the inner atmosphere and cleanse it of all the burdens of feelings and thoughts that are not blessed, then replenish the mind and ignite the pure, noble, just and civilized human conscience as shown by Christ when He prayed. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).
Doesn’t God teach us to live holy lives as citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom who always practice heavenly values, namely Love, Truth, Justice, Peace, prosperity and joy by the Holy Spirit (Romans 14; 17).
Commemorating and celebrating the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ as the culmination of the Christian faith where every Christian person becomes aware of the meaning and significance of love, forgiveness and obedience as a feature of the new life in Christ. Forgiveness is an ethical act to re-embrace others who have been knocked out and marginalized from our lives by various reasons and causes; and bandages up all inner wounds, uproots bitterness and releases unconditional forgiveness, while obedience is living in a harmonious and commensurate rhythm of life, balanced, fair and wise according to the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ (Titus 2:12). That is why the climax of the crucifixion was preceded by 7 weeks of inner contemplation and fasting.
The resurrection of Christ is the culmination of a renewal of life and a new commitment to live in Christ guided by the embodiment of the value of Christ’s love which sets us free and unites us with our fellowmen.
To appreciate and interpret the process of celebrating worship in the weeks of the Passion of Jesus Christ, the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection as stated above, I would like to deliver some opinions and views as follows:
First, Christians are special individuals who are chosen and consecrated to be a nation with the priesthood of God’s kingdom to serve the earth and all that is in it to be, an “oikos” of house in which a harmonious and harmonious together, balanced (harmony) shelter, as glorious as the heavenly description … a place where God’s will is realized, “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
Second; Christians celebrating Easter 2022 will definitely and certainly experience a paradigm shift in implementing their faith, from a person who submits to God, to a person who joins God (partners in God) in realizing the Law of Love, truth, justice, peace, building prosperity, encouraging joy in the midst of a turbulent world by working hard and praying that everything will come true (John 17:15-22)
Third, Christians celebrating the Easter 2022, become a renewed person to renew, to liberate others from all forms of intimidation and provocation of the rampant Evil, who manipulates the glory of God God in the shadow of the mirage of political freedom, the mirage of the new age movement, the mirage of value-free transformation so that it shackles and dragging humans into the shackles of perverted spirits (the power of digression), which seem noble but actually drag humans into the abyss of disgrace.
Fourth, Easter celebrations are a prerequisite for living in the glory of God as heirs of the kingdom of heaven by promoting the values of divine glory… so that the world is continuously renewed as a place where God’s name is worshiped and glorified, so that the world is in the spirit of fellowship and brotherhood as people who receive forgiveness, be renewed, be strengthened into a holy altar of sacrifice to the Lord God of hosts.
The long meditation for 100 days in Easter Week 2022 may give strength to all Christians to awake from adversity due to the Covid-19 pandemic with all its variants, and build a spirit of struggle and progress to renew life together, being forgiven to forgive and being liberated to liberate fellow human beings from the curse of sin, death and eternal destruction.
Author: Priest Freddy H. Toam, M.Si, (A Religious Leader in Papua)