Easter: Our Shared Hope

As we approach Easter during this unprecedented time in our country and our world, I have found myself thinking about the apostles in those first hours following the crucifixion of Jesus.

A calamity they had not imagined possible had befallen them. We can easily picture them — confused, grieving and scared for their lives. As we read in the Gospel of Luke, when Mary Magdalene and her companions told them of Christ’s resurrection, “they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense” (Luke 24:11).

The apostles had been engulfed by a wave of great uncertainty and anxiety. They felt hopeless.

Today, with hundreds of thousands of people impacted on a daily basis by the spread of the coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, the circumstances we face are certainly capable of inducing fear, hopelessness and even panic. These are, as many say, uncertain times.

A shared response

However, I am certain that the test of this pandemic will give rise to what President Lincoln once described as “the better angels of our nature.”

Around the country, Americans have been taking extraordinary measures to prevent and slow the community spread of COVID-19. Such resolve and compassion are part of our DNA as a nation. When faced with adversity, and even calamity, we turn to face the challenge head-on.

Many examples exist of such demonstrations of resoluteness during our country’s history. World War II is, perhaps, the most encouraging and enlightening one. Individuals from coast to coast and even entire industries linked arms for the greater good during the 1940s, enduring food rationing and the repurposing of business to produce material for the war effort.

Baylor University, of course, contributed to this national campaign. Classes were adapted and added to support the needs of the country’s military. Many of our students, professors and alumni enlisted in the armed forces. All across our campus, the Baylor community made sacrifices. To this day, we continue to recognize these extreme efforts through the presence on our Waco campus of memorial lampposts honoring the men and women from Baylor who died in defense of our country while serving in the U.S. military during the war.

An unending hope

As was the case at the beginning of World War II, Americans today are confronting an unprecedented challenge. Every day is filled with new questions. Each week, we are faced with decisions we never imagined having to make. At Baylor, and throughout the Baylor Family, we are part of a full-scale national and global effort to save lives.

The coronavirus may have temporarily changed many things we value, but it can never take away the love we have for one another or our faith in a God that gives us cause for hope even in the midst of uncertainty. We must lean on what we know to be true about the God we serve, the God who “is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble” (Psalm 9:9-10).

As the Book of Acts relates, after Christ’s ascension his apostles returned to Jerusalem and gathered there in what is referred to as the upper room, where the Last Supper had taken place. “They all joined together constantly in prayer,” we read in Acts 1:14, “along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” As we know, this period of secluded prayer led to Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit empowered the group to go out into the world to preach the gospel and minister to God’s people.

Even in days of darkness, we remain encouraged by the light of Christ. Today, as we have for centuries, we join together in prayer, seeking first the Kingdom of God as we approach Easter Sunday. As Americans and members of the Baylor Family, we are dedicated to doing everything we can, both individually and collectively, to fight this unfolding pandemic and to emerge from it stronger and more capable of seeing God’s mercy and everlasting love in our lives.

My prayers are with you and your families this Easter season,

Linda A. Livingstone, Ph.D.
President