Easter Isn't Over!

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Today is officially the second day of the season of Easter in the traditional Church calendar.  There are fifty days in the season of Easter, in case you were wondering, which begins on Resurrection Sunday and ends on the Day of Pentecost. 

 Why is this important?  Why should we care about Church traditions?  To begin with, this reminder about the season of Easter helps us to remember that the Resurrection isn't just something that we celebrate one day a year.  How great it is it that Easter lasts almost two months?  

 Secondly, it reminds us that there is an alternative rhythm to life--one that enables us to break free from the breakneck pace, stress and oppression of the rhythms of our culture.  

 I was at a pharmacy today and they were already tearing down all of the Easter decor to make way for summer advertisements. It was a harsh reminder of how we build up excitement for important celebrations, and then we can hardly wait to move on once they're over.  

 We need to take our celebration of Easter to a new level.  We need to push back against the way our culture wants to diminish it's meaning and reduce it to a Hallmark Holiday. No wonder there are so many skeptics when it comes to the Christian faith, and the reality of the Resurrection.  

 The Resurrection, as I preached yesterday, changed everything.  It is the tipping point of history.  And we need to live like Resurrection people--ready to change the world, to celebrate new life each and every day, to point to the miraculous way God is still saving the world through Jesus.  

 N.T. Wright once wrote:  "The best answer to the skeptics is the fact that there is now a community of people who do not only say Jesus was raised from the dead.  They show it by their own lives."

 May you keep the season of Easter in your heart over these next several weeks and beyond.  May you find numerous occasions to celebrate with joy the Resurrection of our Lord and the new life it brings to all of Creation.  And may you show with your life what it means that Jesus is risen.  

 And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen. 

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