This morning in church my pastor said something profound: Why don’t Christians make more of Easter? He didn’t mean it in a guilt-inducing, shame-on-you sort of way; that doesn’t help anybody. But he had a good point: on Christmas we give gifts and eat rich food and take off of work and gather together to celebrate. Why is it that we don’t do even more than all that on Easter?
Think about it. If it’s true that Jesus Christ was a real historical human being, if it’s true that He was both fully God and fully man, and if it’s scientifically, objectively true that He rose from the dead and lives forever—isn’t that then the most amazing miracle of all time? Granted, if it’s not true, then it’s just a myth or pure religious fabrication, and as such it’s really no big deal; we have plenty of those kinds of fairy-tales in the world already. But if it’s actually true, like Jen and I believe it is true, that’s a game-changer. Our lives should be all about Easter, because Easter redefines life for those who believe.
When I was growing up, Easter was a time to get candy and play hide-and-seek with hard-boiled eggs. It was all about pastel colors and plastic baskets and cute, fluffy bunnies. Why is that? Why is it so easy for us to loose sight of the most amazing, joyous miracle ever and replace it with things that are just plain nice?
This year Jen and I started to recognize our own blindness to the significance of this highest of holidays. We’re starting to explore ways that we can personally make more of Easter in the years to come. One possible “tradition” we started this year was watching the 4.5 hour dramatization of the book of Matthew. Last night, we also worked on creating a Good Friday & Easter playlist for our iPod. (We realized we have a gazillion Christmas albums that “get us in the holiday mood”–why not Easter too?) We would love to hear from you, too: how does your family make Easter special? What Easter traditions have helped make it a joy-filled season of worship and celebration?
May the resurrection of Christ amaze us one again as we say with confidence,
Jesus Christ is Risen Indeed!
My boys and I went to see the Jacksonville Passion Play. It was very fun and very intense. We also have done stations of the cross and love the Tenabrae service at our church. Arthur finally got it that Easter is a Sunday and not after the time we go to church in the evening. Like Christmas Eve. It was a growing time for him this year.