By this time, a while ago, I’d be elbow deep in fake grass, bags of jelly beans, and cleaning out last year’s Easter baskets. The kids, and later grandkids, would be dyeing eggs of chickens as I kept the eggs and bunnies of chocolate well hidden. As a kid, and later as an adult with kids, we’d all be preparing for a big feast of ham or lamb with all the appropriate trimmings. The times have changed and the Easter celebrations of then are very different now, though all is well and my calorie count is grateful. 

But what of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Day itself? Christmas is HUGE as a merely cultural event for the Christian and non-Christian alike, and All Hallow’s Eve (aka Halloween) now almost outsells and out-performs Christmas for decoration sales. But without Easter, Christmas is just a “pagan” celebration of the Winter Solstice and Halloween is simply a harvest feast with a few witches and goblins on the side. This is an excellent opportunity to re-discover, or perhaps just discover, what IS Easter? How does it fit into my experience of faith? I like to take myself back in time to imagine the scenes as I hear the Scripture. This past Palm and Passion Sunday evokes the two mile stretch of hundreds of voices with their ALLELUIAs and the somber, chilling thunder of the same voices with Crucify Him! How easy it is to manipulate a crowd.
 
Let’s all take the time to listen ~ all the services these 4 days are streamed AND recorded. Let us hear again the familiar words as if for the first time. BE THERE and enter the Experience. Feel the darkness and then the RADIANCE! This SON shines forever into our very hearts and souls if we but open the doors. 

May the JOY of Easter fill us with all fresh blooms of Faith. 

—Christina Brennan Lee

_____________________

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Every week, Christina Brennan Lee writes the Prayers of the People we use in our worship services on Sundays. She also leads weekday prayer services. Click here to see her People’s Prayers website.

Click here to see all the Adult Education posts on this website.