Easter 2025 Reflection – Trinity United Church

Dear Trinity United Church,

What a year 2025 is turning out to be!

Not only is it the 100th anniversary of this United Church of ours, but it also marks the beginning of our journey together.

If someone had told me on January 1, 2024, that I was going to start a new Call in a year, I would have laughed like Abraham’s wife Sarah, as it never crossed my mind that such a moment was in store for me and my family.

January 5, 2025, was the very first Sunday for me to lead worship celebrations at Trinity. It also was the 20th anniversary of the start of my educational journey’s commencement to ordained ministry. My very first day of school to answer God’s Call to ministry was January 5, 2005, at Concordia University in Montreal, where I obtained my B.A. minoring in English Literature and Majoring in Theology. That was followed by earning a B.Th. at McGill University in 2007 and finally obtaining M.Div. in 2011 from Montreal School of Theology through United Theological College. What a journey this has been, and having January 5, 2025, be my first Sunday at Trinity makes me sense that our journey together is a full circle of Love of God.

Here we are, April 7, 2025, ninety-six days into our Call, and I am writing my first newsletter reflection for Trinity. It is just appropriate that we are in the beautiful season of Spring where life blossoms, and fresh air lifts our spirits.

Spring is not only a time that lifts our spirits with the beautiful symphony that the birds offer us, with the honking of the geese, but also gives us a feast to our eyes and senses with the blossoming of colourful flowers and scents that wake us up from a slumber.

Easter Sunday is celebrated on the first Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon, which is the first full moon of Spring. This year, Easter, or Resurrection Sunday as I prefer to call it, will be April 20. This is when we proclaim to each other and to the world: “Jesus Christ is Risen today” – “He is Risen indeed.” These are victorious and celebratory words that followers of Jesus have greeted one another with as early as the second century, (www.britannica.com). However, were the first Easter narratives so victorious?

Think about it: The disciples were hiding with fear, and the women came to honour Jesus in the only way they knew how when someone has died. They brought spices to the grave – but they found the tomb empty. This is a double terrifying ordeal to face. However, the story does not end there. They encountered ‘men in dazzling clothes’ (Luke 24:4) who reminded the women – in Jesus’ own words – that he had predicted his death and resurrection. The Gospel of Luke makes the point that ‘Then they remembered his words’ (Luke 24:8).

Beloved, how often have you remembered words from your loved ones, in times of terror and trauma, that have helped you to carry on this journey called life? Sometimes, people may think that the Easter Narratives are idle tales of people who are utterly feeling lost. I know first-hand that Resurrection cannot be fully understood, even after completing three university degrees, but this story helps us live through Trauma with HOPE. This is no fake news, but TRUTH telling and LIBERATING stories.

It has been five years since the world learned of the COVID-19 virus, which is still silently hanging around. However, we have learned and are still learning how to keep away from this deadly virus, and other illnesses, as much as possible. As if the viruses were not enough, we are also facing other uncertainties of life. Difficult days do not disappear in thin air, but something, somewhere, somehow, we find our way and the courage carries us through with HOPE.

As a Community of Faith, that is what our purpose is: To help carry each other through the difficult parts of the journey and celebrate the Good Stuff with Joy!

The trauma of the cross and the empty tomb never disappeared from the minds and hearts of those who experienced it first-hand, just like all of us who have lived through pandemics and wars understand it well. My sisters and I know this first-hand. Trauma of war never leaves those who experience it first-hand, but they find the resilience to carry through this journey with HOPE.

Beloved, Holy Week is upon us. On Maundy Thursday (April 17, 6 p.m.), we will celebrate the Last Supper that Jesus shared with his disciples, where he mandated his followers to “Love as I have Loved You” and washed their feet. We will share Communion and a Potluck Meal. On Good Friday (April 18, 10:30 a.m.) we will remember the death of Jesus on the cross followed by the Annual Ecumenical Walk of the Cross. On Easter Sunday, Resurrection Morning (April 20, 7 a.m.) we will come together for an Outdoor Sunrise Worship with Communion, followed by breakfast. The Holy Week Journey concludes with the Resurrection Celebrations at Trinity’s Worship (10:30 a.m.).

However, our journey continues with HOPE. There are different Resurrection stories in the Gospels, because NO ONE, NO ONE, can encapsulate the entire, real story with one story.  This year, I invite you to join the women in the Gospel of Luke, who go to the tomb, not knowing what awaits them. In that emptiness, they find a new way of living – a Resurrected Life that still leads us with an abundant life even after His crucifixion.

Beloved, join the sounds and scents of Mother Nature and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Risen today and offer your life as an aroma of Grace to ALL you meet. Live in and through the Triune God and stop looking for the “living among the dead” like the ‘men in dazzling clothes’ (Luke 24: 4) informed the women.

“Jesus Christ is Risen today” – “He is Risen indeed.”

I remain humbly within God’s Grace – Your Servant-Leader,
Rev. Takouhi Demirdjian-Petro
B.A., B.Th., M.Div.