East­er flo­ral arrange­ments at St. James Cathe­dral in Seat­tle (Pho­to: Andrew Villeneuve/NPI)

If you are observ­ing the East­er hol­i­day today, please accept best wish­es from all of us at the North­west Pro­gres­sive Institute.

East­er is the most sig­nif­i­cant holy day for Christianity’s many denom­i­na­tions, although not all of them are cel­e­brat­ing it today. Pas­sages like the fol­low­ing excerpt from the Gospel of Matthew (28:1–10) are com­mon­ly read dur­ing East­er ser­vices and litur­gies as part of Chris­t­ian com­mu­ni­ties’ obser­vance of the hol­i­day, as they are con­sid­ered author­i­ta­tive accounts of the East­er sto­ry by Christians.

After the sab­bath, as the first day of the week was dawning,
Mary Mag­da­lene and the oth­er Mary came to see the tomb.
And behold, there was a great earthquake;
for an angel of the Lord descend­ed from heaven,
approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.
His appear­ance was like lightning
and his cloth­ing was white as snow.
The guards were shak­en with fear of him
and became like dead men.
Then the angel said to the women in reply,
“Do not be afraid!
I know that you are seek­ing Jesus the crucified.
He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go quick­ly and tell his disciples,
‘He has been raised from the dead,
and he is going before you to Galilee;
there you will see him.’
Behold, I have told you.”
Then they went away quick­ly from the tomb,
fear­ful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce this to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greet­ed them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my broth­ers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”

Easter liturgical services from Seattle Christian churches

St. James (Catholic faith tradition)

St. Mark’s (Epis­co­pal faith tradition)

Geth­se­mane (Luther­an faith tradition)

First Free Methodist Church

Easter messages from elected leaders

Pres­i­dent Joe Biden released the fol­low­ing state­ment today:

Jill and I join Chris­tians around the world in cel­e­brat­ing East­er Sun­day, a day of hope and joy, renew­al and rebirth. It marks the end of Lent, a peri­od of sac­ri­fice and con­tem­pla­tion. And it com­mem­o­rates Christ’s Res­ur­rec­tion, a pow­er­ful reminder of God’s love and the promise of redemp­tion for us all.

Dur­ing Lent and espe­cial­ly on Good Fri­day, we held in our hearts all those who are suf­fer­ing from threats of vio­lence and per­se­cu­tion, grief and iso­la­tion, and ill­ness, pover­ty, and oth­er hardships.

Today, we hold close the East­er mes­sage that noth­ing – not even death – can match the pow­er of faith, hope, and love. And we remem­ber Jesus’ sac­ri­fice and recom­mit our­selves to love God with all our hearts and to love our neigh­bors as our­selves, embrac­ing His call to treat one anoth­er with compassion.

To all those gath­er­ing in church­es and homes around the world today, hap­py East­er and may God bless and keep you.

British Colum­bia Pre­mier David Eby released the fol­low­ing statement:

East­er is at the heart of Chris­tian­i­ty. Fol­low­ers of the faith cel­e­brate Jesus Christ’s res­ur­rec­tion from the dead after his cru­ci­fix­ion, which comes with a pow­er­ful mes­sage of redemption.

We reflect on the uni­ver­sal val­ues of Chris­tian­i­ty — peace, love, joy and kind­ness — and look for ways to incor­po­rate those val­ues into our dai­ly lives. For many peo­ple, this is also a time to wel­come longer and brighter days, and even a vis­it from the East­er bunny.

This week­end, my wife Cai­ley and I will be busy hid­ing East­er eggs for our kids, Iva and Ezra, and then sit­ting back and watch­ing their joy as they fill their baskets.

East­er’s mes­sage of hope for the brighter days ahead real­ly res­onates with me this year, as we emerge from the pan­dem­ic. Our gov­ern­ment is com­mit­ted to a British Colum­bia where every­one can build a good life, with strong con­nec­tions to fam­i­ly and community.

Whether you’re hav­ing an East­er egg hunt of your own, attend­ing a spe­cial church ser­vice or enjoy­ing a meal with friends and fam­i­ly, I wish you a won­der­ful Easter.

Easter reads

• In the pope’s East­er address, a call to pray for Ukraini­ans, Rus­sians and refugees (NPR)
• Nashville, Bat­tered and Mourn­ing, Paus­es for East­er (New York Times)
• Why is East­er cel­e­brat­ed with eggs? What to know about the hol­i­day’s ori­gins and how it’s changed (USA Today)
• Ramadan, Passover and East­er: Sun­day sees rare triple hol­i­day (KSTP)
• Food safe­ty tips to keep your fam­i­ly safe this East­er (Mar­ler Clark)

Again, Hap­py Easter!