James Derkits

 A classic Easter Hymn begins, "Welcome happy morning, age to age shall say..." The words to the hymn were written in the 6th century, and it was translated into English with modern music in the 19th century. It is traditionally sung on Easter morning and is a celebration of Christ's victory over the forces of hell, death, destruction, and the path of darkness. With the ages of Jesus followers who have sung this hymn, we are invited anew to welcome the happy morning, allow Christ to transform our worldview from that of despair and loneliness to one of resurrected hope in holy community.  Many people look out into the world and fear that the Devil has won the world over, to those folks, I would say stop main-lining bad news on your screen and pick up your Bible, preferably with a group of friends. We are certainly not the first ones to live in difficult times. For example, the writing about following Jesus that came from the adversity of the World Wars is still standard re...