By Todd Outcalt

Living in the wealthiest country in the world, we now benefit from technological conveniences that previous generations could never have imagined. We have countless forms of entertainment, and we can be cured of diseases that were once fatal. But even now, we are surrounded by despair.

Every major American city is home to people who live on the streets, suffer from addictions, and don't know where their next meals will come from. Our media is saturated with put-downs; entertainers and politicians try to improve their profiles by insulting their colleagues and opponents. War and disease take millions of lives elsewhere in the world. And, in the post-Oklahoma City, post-Columbine, post-September 11, post-Virginia Tech American, everyone knows that we are never entirely safe.

While technology has enabled us to better communicate, heal, and learn, it has also enabled some to more effectively exploit, oppress, and destroy. Some nights, the evening news leaves viewers wondering, Will we have a future in which to work, love, and pursue the joys of life? Will this future be secure, or will it contain threats, uncertainties, and destruction?

Through the Internet and cable television, today's adolescents have become acutely aware of their vulnerabilities. And in a world connected by a global media and intercontinental travel, many youth have taken an interest in global issues such as war, epidemic diseases, oppression, famine, and poverty. Some young people are inevitably asking themselves, Does our world have any hope? Where is God in the midst of all this human pain?

Easter, Christ's victorious resurrection, is our ultimate hope. Resurrection out of death gave rise to the church: a people alive with the Holy Spirit, proclaiming hope in a hurting world. Resurrection is God's promise of life beyond life, of power that can overcome even death.

Today, on Easter Sunday, invite your youth to celebrate this hope, to live in it, and to be refreshed by the life-altering power of Christ, who redeems us and reminds us each day, "Take courage; I have conquered the world!" (John 16:33b).

From Mission: Easter—Youth Programs and Ideas for Lent by Todd Outcalt (Abingdon 2005).