Ian Ellis: Easter tells us that there is new life, and that there truly is everything to hope for

Yet, among the many things that are told by the message of Good Friday and Easter is how the deeper, inward things that are sadly broken in people - the broken spirit - really can be restored.

Certainly, psychological and psychiatric practice can bring healing to those who are inwardly distressed, but the events of Good Friday and Easter point to how healing and restoration of the broken spirit, however achieved, bring us in fact to the heart of God.

Easter is first of all about the faith that Jesus Christ died, was buried and, in a way that is beyond human capacity fully to explain, rose again.

It is a faith that millions of Christians around the world celebrate. For the less confident believer, this is a time not for giving up but, rather, for reaching out in spirit and considering anew the sacred mysteries of life.

Indeed, here is the wonderful restoration of something infinitely greater than the smashed crockery. There is always restoration and renewal for people.

Spirits may be smashed as individuals face any of many drastic situations in their lives, but those spirits can be brought to life again, and the individual can be stronger as a result of the terrible ordeal, whatever it was.

Faith and unfaltering hope are of the utmost aid in this process. It is more than simply the power of positive thinking, more than the benefit of the positive attitude.

It is about turning our thoughts outwards, from ourselves, to the world around us and up to God.

I say “up” to God on purpose because, while I do not think of God as residing in the sky or at some location in outer space, I do think of God as above, as in a higher realm.

The spacial imagery is easily adapted to spiritual things. Goodness is above, while evil is below.

Christian people are encouraged by St Paul to “seek the things that are above”, that is, the higher things in life, the higher qualities, the goodness and love that transcend the tainted ordinary and the imperfect mundane, and that belong to the character of the divine life.

Yes, look “up”. At this time, the world seems to be in the grip of confusion and is facing all the chaos of war.

Perhaps it has ever been thus, but because of the nature of modern mass communication, people in their living rooms are brought right to the centre of battle, and can see what warfare is, in all its brutality, cruelty, ugliness and horror.

It may seem trite to say that no matter how distraught in spirit people may be, there is always the prospect of renewal, the prospect of overcoming their distress.

Words are easy but, still, there do remain the realities of faith and hope. They cannot be denied, and they are good for every person.

The people in biblical times saw life in all its rawness and knew immense suffering and pain without the medical aid we know today.

Psalm 42 combines lament at difficult and trying circumstances with the spirit of faith, hope and perseverance.

Lamenting his adversity, the psalmist declares that tears “have been my food day and night” and yet cries from the depth of his being: “As a hart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God.”

Having asked why his soul is downcast, he goes on to resolve to persevere in hope, declaring that he will again praise the one who is “my help and my God”.

This is not a world in which gloom and doom must reign forever.

The 19th century Danish thinker, Søren Kierkegaard, contrasted the tyrant with the martyr in a way that really does make one look up.

He wrote that while the tyrant's rule is brought to an end by death, the martyr's death sees a different rule begin.

That insight does lift one in spirit to recognise the reality of how, while evil may prosper for a time, goodness is infinitely stronger and infinitely more enduring.

As Psalm 30 puts it, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”

Yet there is, indeed, plenty of gloom and doom all around, but by looking to the things that are above there is the possibility of rising above all of that, the possibility of an inward triumph over outward adversity.

The suffering and agony of Calvary were, Christians believe, a pivotal moment in history when, in a sacred and mysterious way, God worked a great reconciliation between wayward humanity and his divine heart.

Easter tells us that things indeed have been turned around, that there is new life, and that there truly is everything to hope for.

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Canon Ian Ellis is a former editor of The Church of Ireland Gazette