For many students it might be difficult to make it home for Easter, but the wide range of Gainesville churches provide a sense of home.
Easter Sunday is on the weekend before exams take place. So, some students do not have the opportunity to go home for the holiday, fly back, and then go home, once again, for summer. This is the case for Jazmin Vainer who is an international student from Argentina.
In Argentina, and many other Latin American countries, Holy Week is a national holiday where residents have two days off, Thursday and Friday, but in America there is no break. Vainer wishes she has that time to truly reflect on one of Christianity’s most holy holidays.
“Besides just not being with them for such an important weekend, in general, I do miss them a lot,” she said.
For Easter, Vainer will be attending service at St. Augustine Catholic Church with friends, who also will not be able to go home for Easter. She is happy and thankful for the church family as it provides her with a sense of home while counting the days till the end of the semester.
“I do love that I am able to find a community and that our faith has brought us together,” Vainer said.
Julie Fisher, the administrative coordinator at Salt Church, invites anyone who may be alone for Easter to their 10 a.m. mass at Depot Park. Salt Church is a southern Baptist Church but the larger tone to their service is a modern non-denominational style.
“We have a large number of students that come to Salt Church,” Fisher. “There will be lots of college student there, lots of community people there and families, and we welcome everyone.”
University Lutheran Church has its Easter service at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. After, it hosts a brunch for all.
“Sunday morning is very much [a] family celebration,” said Rev. Lindsey Beukelman, the senior pastor at University Lutheran Church. “We are excited to welcome any students or anyone from the community that has space in their life and [are] missing family. This is a perfect place to be.”
For some, home isn’t really a place to go. Whether there is no family, religious differences or even just constant conflict there is still a place for students to find their community.
“Home is kind of complicated so I don’t typically go back there for holidays,” Kendall O’Connor, a student at the University of Florida said. “So, that can be really difficult.”
The fear of solitude is something that drives humanity. We are social beings striving for connection and community.
“I got [to Gainesville] and I was so home sick for a home I didn’t want to go back to and that was so incredibly hard. I felt so far from my parents.” O’Connor said.
Growing up O’Connor wasn’t raised in the church. Her family mainly went to Easter and Christmas services and that was all. She says that her family would use the excuse that service was too early for them and that it is their only time to sleep in.
“It's honestly really nice that I feel like there's a ton of church community at UF because even though I don't necessarily go home and don't really go to church with my parents I always feel like there's somewhere I can go.”
With a spontaneous adventure to the top of the Broward Parking Garage, the Young Life Ministry hosted a milkshake night where O’Connor met her forever family.
“Even with the people that I don't know, who are Christians, they're just so welcoming and just are so quick to welcome you into their family.”
O’Connor feels like she owes the ministries on campus that brought her in. She looks up to the leaders that found her freshmen year, who were reading scriptures daily, and hopes to be that person for others. She reminisces about many of the memories she has made with her friends in her religious journey.
“One of the first weeks of school, one of our events was milk jousting,” O’Connor said. “I don’t even think there was a winner, I think we all lost because all of our clothes smelt like rotting milk the next day, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
O’Connor is part of a campus ministry called Young Life. It is an outreach ministry group for fellow believers and non-believers to immerse themselves in biblical theology.
“Young Life is one of those things that is really hard to describe, really,” O’Connor said. “I feel like Young Life’s mission is to reach the people who wouldn’t be reached otherwise, the people who wouldn’t want to step into a church, the people who feel they are so far away from that. We want to be their friend, and if not anything, just be their friend; ideally, we want to invite people into Bible studies.”
For Easter, she plans on attending Vida Springs Church, a non-denominational church, for its sunrise service. The service starts at 7 a.m. at their campus on 2925 NW 39TH AVE.
“I just know that every single community and every single church in Gainesville is going to welcome them like family.” O’Connor said. “It makes me so happy that they're going to feel loved on Easter morning.”
