Submitted to our local paper, the Border Watch.
The Easter weekend is now over. Seeing how many people were out and about on the day before Good Friday it seemed that lots of people were having a longer weekend than the four days from Friday to Monday. The wrench of returning to work was hopefully softened by a four-day working week until the next weekend.
Christians started preparing for Easter back on February 9, Shrove Tuesday. The supermarkets started preparing for it during the first week of January when the Hot Crossed Buns went on sale.
During the Easter week some churches held services on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. For many Christians it’s the busiest time of the year.
More than a few folk will ask if we’ll be glad when the weekend is over.
It’s a funny question, really.
For while it is a good feeling when the Easter weekend is ended, for the Christian Easter never ends.
Every Sunday is just as much centered on the resurrection of Jesus as Easter Sunday. Every Sunday engages with the event of Jesus’ crucifixion as pivotal in the relationship between God and his people.
More than that, these events are central to every single day of a Christian’s life.
Many of us are familiar with family heirlooms, crockery and cutlery sets that are only used on special occasions like Christmas, birthdays or anniversaries. On ordinary days other ‘everyday’ plates and eating utensils are used. I suspect some of us even have special crockery sets that have never been eaten off because no occasion is ever special enough to merit their use.
Perhaps that’s how some people think about Easter: that on Easter Sunday and Good Friday the resurrection and the cross are central, but on the other weeks of the year focus can fall on other themes.
The reality for Christians is that the truths of Easter are for everyday. They’re not just special occasions.
Our everyday living is anchored in the life of the resurrected Jesus.
Our everyday motivation in love and service for others flows from an experience of the victory and transformation of the resurrected Jesus.
Our everyday hope is grounded in the reality of a life that lasts forever, stretching beyond the darkened times so many of us experience now into everlasting light because of the resurrected Jesus.
Easter is not just one aspect of Christian experience; Easter is not a part of our calendar; Easter is the power that instructs, enables, and fuels our lives as followers of Jesus.
Easter is past for 2016, but Easter never ends.
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