EASTER TURNS LIFE'S DEFEATS TO BRIGHT VICTORIES

If one tried to pick a single word to describe our holidays such as patriotism for July Fourth, joy for Christmas, gratitude for Thanksgiving, I think newness would be a suitable word for Easter.

So far as possible everyone tries to get something new to wear for Easter if only a hair ribbon or bright new shoelaces. Lacking money to purchase anything new, old things may be made over.

This making over was popular in the Depression days. I remember new collars and cuffs added to an old plaid gingham dress to make it at least semi-new. They were made from a bleached and starched white flour sack and lifted out of the ordinary by a white crocheted edging.

As more affluent times swept over America, to have a new hat for Easter was almost universal. Not just a plain hat but one that was smothered in flowers, ribbons, big bows of net and fluffy feathers. If one still had a few grimy claws of the Depression cramping personal style, she might be able to buy just a plain hat with a plain black ribbon band with streamers down the back. In that case, you removed the ribbon and embroidered it profusely with colorful roses and daisies and whatever flowers you knew how to do.

In still more affluent days, whole new outfits became affordable for Easter--dresses, shoes, handbags, suits, etc.

Why this longing for new clothes? Would it seem sacrilegious to say the resurrection of Jesus? Many would not say this is the answer. But shuffling down through all the trappings of the ages, I feel that it is. Like a Phoenix bird arising from the ashes of despair, Christians cam back from the resurrection with new hope that says death is not necessarily the end. Old beliefs, sadness, defeats, hopelessness were brushed aside as in a quick wind. There was newness inside, happy newness. How plausible it would be to put on some new outer attire to reflect this inner newness.

For most of the world there is newness in nature at Easter time. Green creeps over the land like a new carpet. Everywhere you look there are buds swelling and turning to leaf and flower. Many of our wildlife and birds seem to think, "Hey, it's a pretty good life after all. Let's keep the families going." New little wobbly calves stay close to their mothers, kittens and puppies, eyes still closed, lie tangled with each other in furry warmth. From swampy places frogs sing. Old toads come up from hibernation. The voice of the turtle dove is heard over the land. Most cheerful of all, the meadow larks ring out, "Look all. It's new, new, new." And the cardinals answer, "Pretty, pretty, pretty!"

If the spirit of mankind grows dull from Easter to Easter, it is surely at this time that it is honed to brightness again.

From the pulpits, the choirs, children's programs, theater plays, we are reminded of the One who brought us newness of life, a reason for keeping the old shackles of despair, the what's-the-use syndrome shook off.

Since one man proved he could literally arise from death, we know that it is possible. We've never seen it, of course, and many try to dispute it, but it is the knowledge that it once happened that keeps us stepping out in newness, in both our literal trappings and our spiritual longings.

REJOICE!