One of my coworkers, a friend, a wonderful man, died this week.
In his sleep. Sudden and unexpected.
Just like that.
Another friend’s brother died this week. Expected but sooner than anticipated.
Shock, Sadness. Grief. Loss.
That sense of disbelief, that this can not be real, but it is oh so real.
My friend, Judy, made this observation.
“We do not grieve as those with no hope¹. We are Easter people.”
Easter people. I like that. This week of all weeks – being Easter people makes a difference.
This week, Holy Week, we remember the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ.
What it means for us who follow Jesus is that there is life after death. His resurrection makes it so. We have this hope of being together again because of what Jesus accomplished for us.
Of this world of life after death, God says,
He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.
The sin we see, the sin we do, the sin around us in every form will be gone. The life promised to us will be in its full form. And we will be transformed in the holy presence of our incomparable King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. we have this hope. We celebrate Him this weekend, the One who loved us so much, He would lay down His own life to save us.
We are not only forgiven now; we will be reunited with those we love who also trust Jesus. In the face of death, we grieve our losses of beloved ones, and we rejoice that they have entered His presence. We will see them again in that glorious place at the time of God’s choosing.
We have hope.
We are Easter people.
AB Reflections 
I’ve been snagging Judy’s quote, too! We are indeed Easter people, with human bodies that feel pain, but can have hope, just like Jesus did. That is the wonder.
the pain is real and the hope is too. like you said, a wonder. thanks, Sharon.