Is it just me or do those of us in Christian circles spend a lot more time contemplating the celebrations and holidays around Christ's birth than those that remember His death and resurrection? If you belong to a church like mine then chances are you remember His death and resurrection on a regular basis. This varies from church to church. Some do it weekly (which I prefer), some fortnightly, some monthly, perhaps some less regularly, but there is time throughout the year to remember in a physical and meaningful way through the breaking of bread and sharing of the cup what Christ has done for us.
But what specifically do we do at this time of year? At Christmas we labour over whether to have Santa or not, should we have a Christmas tree, and how to escape commercialism and make the festival more meaningful. But what do we do at Easter?
It seems that many Christian blogs are silent. I'm not pointing the finger here. I'm the first one to admit that I'm guilty of remaining quiet. My own particular church doesn't even have an Easter Friday service (which I miss). I'm thinking more about what do I as a Christian do at this time of year to remember Christ's death?
There are the outward things that we do. In our family we eat hot cross buns and Easter eggs because we happen to like spicy buns hot from the oven and chocolate too, but we don't make a big deal about it and I do try to avoid chocolate shaped as bunnies or ducks. (Just think about it for a minute: I have lived in two countries where rabbits are a noxious pest - why would we want to eat anything shaped like a bunny?!). But apart from including an extra song or two at the Sunday service concerning Christ's resurrection, what else do we do? What do we do on a spiritual level?
I've been thinking on this over the past few days not least because today was the funeral service of a very special young man from our church. Jason was thirty-nine years old and died of an awful disease that robbed him of his health and his life.
Perhaps then it was appropriate that today we celebrated that Jason has been released from his earthly body and resurrected to a new body. For those that loved him, there will be a time of grieving, but there is also joy in knowing that he no longer suffers and that he now has a body that will not deteriorate, will not grow old, and nothing - nothing - can steal it from him.
For me today, this is the joy of the resurrection. Death has been conquered. Alleluia!
Comments
While I think it is ok to have a special service on Christmas or Easter, I prefer to think about these things all year, and I think we should. I find that many churches that make a big to-do over Christmas and Easter fail to emphasize Christ's birth and death and resurrection throughout the year in some way.
What I'm saying is that I am in agreement with your views.
On Sunday we were encouraged to take a piece of broken pottery and glue it to a wooden cross to show that Christ has taken our brokenness and made us whole. For the children this happened during the children's talk, and for the adults, during communion. It was quite meaningful to me that the piece of pottery I picked up was blue (my favourite colour), obviously the Chinese Willow pattern (which I adore), and small (I'm so insignificant but if I give Him my all He can use even me). I'm glad we had the chance to do that and that it was not rushed.
SchnauzerMom, Amen! I learnt last night that my mother's aunt who was like an aunt to me died on Saturday. Another saint in heaven for Resurrection Sunday!
Jen/Jeff, we never had the Easter bunny but we did give in to family pressure and have Santa. We didn't make a big deal of it but I wish that we'd not done it at all. How can we teach our children that God is real when we replace Him with make-believe?