LLSTA Chairwoman, Prof. emerita and Pastor Austra Reine
On Easter morning we who follow Christ celebrate the victory of Christ’s life and love over the forces of death and destruction. As I was preparing this greeting, I felt myself addressed by the words of the poet Mechthild Denhard:
Because You love us, we are able to love,
Because You live in us, we are able to live,
With every breath there flows into us
A deep trust in Your love.*
(FrauenKirchenKalender 2026: Sinn Stiften. Eschbach: Patmos, 2026).
In today’s age of climate crisis, mass migration, and various wars, to live with an attitude of trust and love means to swim against the current. In our ears resound voices that try to instill in us a fear of neighbors who are different from us, whether they live in the house next door or in another country. Voices that incite us to push them away, to cast them out, even to kill them!
We who follow Christ strive, ever anew, to trust in the power of life and love. Such trust helps us to live fully and to keep seeking ways to actively love and serve our neighbors, near as well as far.
May the divine power of love, in this Easter season and beyond, inspire in us the strength to trust, to live, and to love!
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*translated by the author from German
Illustration: The Tree of Life. Arta Skuja, 2026
