The service was co-sponsored by Eastern Mennonite Seminary and led by graduate students Makinto and Mukarabe Makinto-Inandava. It included musical selections from Makinto, as well as the EMU Gospel Choir led by Kay Pettus ’25, and biblical readings from Mukarabe.

Reflections on Easter were shared by English Professor Dr. Kevin Seidel, who teaches and writes about the changing relationship between religion, secularism, and literature. His message, titled “Women Explain Things to Me: A Sermon on Luke 24,” focused not so much on Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead but on the “slow, difficult coming to terms with the significance of the resurrection by Jesus’ followers as portrayed in Luke 24.”

“In Luke, the resurrection of Jesus isn’t a simple, triumphant end of the story, but a kind of difficult beginning that unfolds in the Book of Acts,” Seidel said. “The resurrection doesn’t settle debate among Jesus’ followers about who he is. The resurrection proves, I think, profoundly unsettling for them.”

After the service, Seidel said he was glad for the chance to reflect on parts of the resurrection story in Luke 24. “The service was a good way to mark and celebrate the beginning of the seven-week Easter season in the church calendar,” he said.

University Chaplain Brian Martin Burkholder said Wednesday’s Easter celebration follows EMU’s practice of honoring and observing significant Christian traditions and holidays, including Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

“This morning, as we gathered, there was an opportunity for education about Easter,” he said, “as well as an invitation to worship in the spirit of Easter through Scripture, singing, and reflection.”

Makinto, a frequent worship leader at chapel events, performed Jesus Is Risen, an original song he wrote in 2013, as the opening song for this year’s Easter worship service. The song tells the Easter story and connects it to our own lives, he said. 

“So, as he is risen, we as well can rise above all the challenges we have, above the pains we have, above the solitude we have, and also conquer death and situate ourselves squarely in life with our community around us,” Makinto said.

Makinto and his wife, Mukarabe, moved from California to pursue degrees at Eastern Mennonite Seminary and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, respectively. They are the directors of , an organization that connects people at the local and global levels for the purpose of development, unification, and spiritual and physical well-being.

University Chaplain Brian Martin Burkholder speaks during a campus worship service on Wednesday in Martin Chapel.

Mukarabe Makinto-Inandava reads a selection from Luke 24 (left). Members of the EMU Gospel Choir (right) sing during Wednesday’s campus worship service.

About Campus Worship

Campus Worship is an invitational space for gathered worship in Christian traditions and a variety of styles. Services are held in Martin Chapel of the Seminary Building on Wednesday mornings every other week. 

Campus worship continues with a final service of the academic year on April 22 recognizing EMU’s senior student chaplains: Emily Suarez Nunez, Dia Mekonnen, Sara Kennel, and Miranda Beidler. The event will be livestreamed on .

Watch a video recording of the service below!

“I love Americans,” Pedro announced to the small group gathered for the Wednesday evening Bible study. “I love your music, your language, your people.”

My wife, Esther, and I were leading a group of 18 EMU students and were visiting a small Mennonite congregation on the north side of sprawling Mexico City.

They were hosting us during Holy Week for a time of working, worshiping and playing together.

I was immediately put off by Pedro’s announcement. His speech was slurred, his eyes glazed over, and he wore beads around his neck and on his wrists while stuffing white ear buds in his ears. Often I had been accosted by similar statements and people in my years of learning and serving in Latin America. What was his agenda? He had to have one, I assumed, because he was too effusive, and I was pretty sure he was inebriated.

The following day the church had planned a day for the group of us to enjoy the many activities available in Chapultepec Park in central Mexico City. There were museums, a zoo, a castle, rowboats and an amusement park, to name a few. We were to divide into groups and chose our activity. At the end of the Bible study, the pastor asked for a show of hands of those who were willing and able to accompany us for the excursion. Pedro was the first one to raise his hand.

After a wonderfully harrowing ride navigating Mexico City’s public transportation system with a walk, two bus transfers and the metro, we emerged out of the bowels of the subway system into the bright, crisp air of the park. Five students along with Esther and me, chose the zoo. So did Pedro. Probably with the same misgivings about Pedro that I had, the five students hurriedly dashed off to the entrance of the zoo, disappearing among the multitudes. Esther and I were stuck with Pedro. Three hours until we were to reunite with the rest of the group for the next activity. Three hours with Pedro. I dreaded every minute.

The human tendency is to prejudge someone by their outward appearance. This is where the word “prejudice” comes from. We decide what someone is like by their race, their age, their sex or any of a number of other factors without bothering to get to know them. My prejudgment of Pedro was that he was a drunk and would be a difficult person to relate to because he “had an agenda” and probably wanted something from me. I didn’t want to be bothered by him. By prejudging him before getting to know him, I denied his God-image and likeness. By so doing, I reduced him to something less than human.

I was not the only one to prejudge Pedro. “I made a quick judgment about him as being someone I did not want to relate to, and I did not want anything to do with him,” wrote one of my students in her journal. “I was judging him for what I saw and the little I knew of him.” Because of the scene at the Bible study, I’m sure many of our students felt the same way.

God knows our tendency to judge a person by how they look on the outside, so when Samuel was looking for a king to replace Saul, God warned him: “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7 NIV).

Israel had already been fooled by a tall and handsome Saul, the man who had the stereotypical physique of a king but the heart of a pagan. Even in spite of this disaster, Samuel looked for these same qualities in the sons of Jesse. He had to be straightened out by God. What is in one’s heart is more important than the way one looks.

Paul, in acknowledging his own prejudices before he had an encounter with the Risen Christ, writes in 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (CEV), “We are careful not to judge people by what they seem to be,” or, as The Message puts it, “by what they have or how they look.” I certainly judged Pedro by the way he seemed to be and the way he looked, I  didn’t look at his heart.

As Esther, Pedro and I proceeded through the zoo, Pedro wanted to know the English name of every animal we came across. We became friendlier as the day wore on, enjoying his unbounded, childlike enthusiasm for all the animals and their English equivalents.

We decided to leave the zoo and have lunch together. As we ate, he told us his long, torturous story. He was studying biology at the university when he got into a bad crowd and started doing drugs. Up to that point he was doing well enough that he had several offers to continue his academic career in graduate studies or to work with some government agencies; offers that would have set him financially for life.

The deeper he got into the drug scene, however, the more distracted he became from his studies. It wasn’t long until he had to live on the streets full-time to support his habit. He dropped out of school and had never returned. What had been a promising career was left shattered on the rubbish heap beside a pile of syringes. He tried to earn a living selling candy and chewing gum from a portable stand he carried through his neighborhood.

After many failed rehabilitation programs, he wandered into an evangelical church and accepted Christ. He had been clean for over a year when we met him. “The only thing that saved me was Christ,” he testified. Because of his abuse of all sorts of drugs, his brain was fried. This explained his slurred speech and his halting behavior—making us jump to the conclusion that he was drunk.

The passage from 2 Corinthians 5 continues, “Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new.” Other versions call this a “new creation.” In spite of his outward appearance, Pedro was a new creation. He had a new heart. Before I got to know his story, I could only see his outward appearance.

Pedro accompanied our entourage from EMU everywhere we went. As the week wore on, he endeared himself not only to Esther and me but to all the students. When we went to see the reenactment of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion in his gang-infested neighborhood on Good Friday, Pedro led the way. Everywhere people greeted him.

Since we were with him, in spite of sticking out like sore gringo thumbs, we felt safe and in good hands. He was the first to give out specially prepared invitations to attend his church in his neighborhood. His own transformed life was an even more powerful testimony to his old friends.

“As I started to hear his story, I started to understand him more and not have a total fear of him,” wrote the same student. “His story is a powerful [one] and shows what Jesus can do in people’s lives. I wish I hadn’t judged Pedro so quickly.” Another student gave Pedro his English-Spanish Bible. Pedro’s face radiated his gratitude. We were slowly beginning to see his heart, to see his God-image, to see his new creation.

When we left Mexico some three weeks after our time with this fascinating and hospitable Mennonite church, Pedro was among the people to show up at the airport to bid us farewell. Many of the church members brought parting gifts. Pedro brought his candy stand and passed out candies to the group with his huge, toothless smile.

Our final church service together was Easter Sunday. During that service, we circulated around all the members of the church greeting them with the phrase, “Christ is risen,” to which the other responded, “He is risen indeed.” When I came to Pedro and looked him directly in his eyes, an emotion came over me, and I said to him, “Christ is risen, and I see him in your face.” This was the same face that I had rejected just a few days earlier. Without hesitation, he replied, “Yes, I was dead and now I am alive. I have risen from the dead like Christ.” I could not hold back the tears as I hugged him. Pedro was a new creation. So was I.

Don Clymer teaches Spanish and humanities at EMU, Harrisonburg, Va., and leads cross-cultural seminars to Guatemala and Mexico. He also serves on the pastoral care team at Lindale Mennonite Church where he is a member.

This article is reprinted courtesy of , April issue.

“. . . Just remember, in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow,
Lies the seed that with the sun’s love
In the spring becomes the rose.”
–Bette Midler

Summer has long been my favorite time of year – singing in the sunshine, tending flowerbeds, swatting flies at family picnics and rolling in the ocean surf.

But spring, to me, is the most miraculous season of the year.

After enduring months of freezing temperatures, barren landscapes, short daylight hours and long stretches of darkness, signs of change slowly but surely appear: snowdrops and crocuses peek through the crusty soil, the first robin offers its stouthearted solo, buds swell on green-tinged willow tree branches, the mercury hiccups a 20-degree spurt on the patio thermometer.

Jim Bishop

Spring approaches – with its awesome promise of new life. Winter can’t hold us in its icy grip forever. Hope springs eternal.

It’s easy to let myself get stuck in the muck of daily hassles and exigencies. When tough situations arise, hope sometimes becomes the prime force that keeps me motivated and moving.

‘Affirmative words’

Just last week, I was allowing several personal problems to run interference on my usual optimistic attitude. Right in the midst of my personal pity party, a work colleague stopped me on the stairway landing and told me that a recent column “spoke” to him. That same morning, a letter came in the mail from a lady I don’t know with affirmative words for several of my articles that she could identify with.

Such serendipitous moments served up a munificent ration of hope and reminded me of the larger picture – that indeed, my life is running over with daily bountiful blessings.

These incidents underscored again that we need to offer words of encouragement when we see someone else caught in a web of melancholy or despair. It may be someone who is experiencing a long-term illness, dealing with a fractured relationship, severe financial stress.

A supportive word and gentle touch of grace may make all the difference in helping someone see “new possibilities,” a turning point just ahead. I also must recognize that it’s not a sign of weakness or inadequacy to simply admit that I’m struggling with a problem and go seek assistance.

Revive and Renew Yourself

Spring may seem a natural time for the human spirit to be revived and renewed, but this sweet season can happen year-round when we breathe a breath of warmth on frozen countenances – both on ourselves and others.

Sometimes, however, we must first pass through the refiner’s fire of testing and trial. The rainstorm must preceed the rainbow. Before the joy and gladness of Easter, there is the solemnity, pain and alienation of Good Friday. This is the memorandum of spring and of the Easter season that is such an integral part of it.

Look – the newly-opened daffodil getting a suntan.

Look – long-shuttered windows are opening to let in the fresh air.

Look – the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty.

Look – a new creation.

Jim Bishop is public information officer at ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř, Harrisonburg, Va.

It’s still cool, even wintry-like at times, but change is happening – slowly, quietly, surely.

Around our house, daffodils and tulips force their way through the crusty mulch, testing conditions, deciding whether to thrust forth with confidence or retreat to whence they came.

Fat robins cavort in our yard, breaking forth in song one minute, shivering the next.

The calendar declares it, the great outdoors seconds it – Spring is in the air.

Indoors, an amaryllis plant that I potted at Thanksgiving is starting to put on a Technicolor display. I start one each November in hopes of the large colorful blooms cheering up the often bleak month of January.

This time, nothing seemed to happen in spite of lavishing extra attention on the dormant bulb. Christmas came and went with no indication of green shoots or a flower stalk imminent.

Several times I came close to pitching the stubborn plant, then recanted. Apparently the contrary plant decided to give up growing for Lent, only to strut its stuff for Easter.

Stubborn flowering plants act a lot like people, but we shouldn’t give up on them either.

I also purchase an Easter lily each year, enjoy its beauty and fragrance, then plant it outside and watch for it to spring up again the following year.

An obstinate amaryllis at the Bishop residence waited until Easter to break forth with joy.
Photo by Jim Bishop

Easter weekend comes especially early this year, at a time when the weather remains unpredictable and uncertain.

It’s a time of promise, of newness, of renewal and hope. The long dark nights and desolation of winter are passing. But wintertime’s hibernation and dormancy spell is necessary in order for new life to burst forth again.

This old guy still looks forward to getting an Easter basket, joining with other family members in searching indoors and outside for the wicker container laden not so much with chocolate goodies as with small, useful everyday items. Finding this hidden treasure is half the fun.

Easter encompasses all that life is meant to be in its fullness.

In contrast, humanity seems intent on pursuing a path that leads to destruction – inflicting pain and suffering on each other to get what we want or to impose our will on others, whether on an individual level or broader scope.

I think of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and especially in Iraq, now two years old and counting.

Does Iraq have any connection with Easter?

I think so.

The Easter story is a violent one, full of trauma, injustice and death. One ends joyfully, triumphantly, the other . . . well, the verdict has yet to be returned.

We can use violent means to try to bring about change, between people and between countries, but it won’t change people’s minds or hearts. Only genuine love can do that.

Boundless love, reconciliation, life beyond the grave – that’s the message of Easter, if we are open to hearing and accepting it.

But, love our enemies? Here and now? Maybe the person next to you that you can’t stand, that’s a possibility. But our perceived enemies half way around the world? How absurb, even though the One who Easter is all about called us to do precisely that.

The cross, used by the powerful to suck the life out of the powerless, became the instrument that changed the world.

In the shadow of that empty cross, we can fully live – now and forever.

Jim Bishop is public information officer at ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř. He can be contacted at .

Three staff persons from ˛ÝÝ®ÉçÇř were among eight Harrisonburg area people who worked together to create resource materials for a 2005 Easter to Pentecost worship series.

The materials, titled "Unbound!", with a different subtitle for each Sunday, are intended for use by pastors and other congregational leaders and will soon be available in "Leader" magazine, published by Faith and Life Resources, a division of Mennonite Publishing Network.

At the invitation of Marlene Kropf, director of the Office of Congregational Life, Elkhart, Ind., the group gathered last winter at Park View Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg for a weekend to begin the planning process. The work was completed individually and in small groups through the spring and summer months with Shirley Yoder Brubaker of the Park View congregation as local team coordinator.

"The Office of Congregational Life has coordinated the development of worship resources for Advent and for Lent, but this was the first time to develop worship resources for the Easter to Pentecost church season," noted Brian Martin Burkholder, EMU campus pastor and a group member.

Other EMU employees on the planning team were Jill K. Landis, associate director of church partnerships at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and Kevin Clark, part-time instructor at the seminary.

Other committee members included Kris Shank Zehr, Edie Bontrager, Gloria Diener and Lucinda Swartzendruber, all from the Harrisonburg area.