It's About RESURRECTION

 I am SO not getting out the Easter baskets and eggs this year. Or the bunnies. And unfortunately, I'm not even buying the candy.

My girls are all grown up, both of them getting ready to graduate from college and leave the proverbial nest. Even they aren't interested in the old kiddie traditions this time around. The youngest came home from college yesterday, and we've been puzzling a bit about how to celebrate the holiday . . . I mean, other than going to church. And I don't mean to minimize the act of going to church on the most important of Christian holidays, or holy days. 

But this year, it's not really cutting it.

I recently finished re-reading Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright. Heavy reading, but good reading. Important, weighty stuff. One of the things he talks about (in fact, I think he devotes a whole chapter to it) is how poorly we do Easter these days. We spend a whole forty days on Lent (and by the way, I was today years old when I realized that the six Sundays in the midst of all that are not included in the forty, so it's really forty-six). We spend an entire week on Holy Week and the stuff involved there -- his triumphal entry, the last supper, the betrayal and trial, the crucifixion and burial . . . lots of important but sad stuff. 

But then Jesus rises from the dead, saves our souls from condemnation, comes back to inaugurate his new kingdom, and we celebrate for . . . one day. And then we move on with our lives, ruining our teeth with leftover candy.

I mean, that's just wrong. 

My very unique little Baptist church here in SA is rather liturgical and has taught me that "Eastertide" -- that is, the Easter season when the church is supposed to focus on celebrating the resurrection -- actually lasts a full fifty days until Pentecost Sunday. Fifty days, people! 

This year, I'm finding myself drawn to Eastertide. I acknowledge the value of the spiritual disciplines practiced during Lent and of the remembrance of the events that went down during Holy Week. But this year, I'm all about NEW LIFE. Resurrection! My favorite quote from Wright's book, the one that God keeps bringing to my mind, is that "Jesus' resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven."

I want my Easter to be about that this year.

In my Thursday ladies' Zoom group, I brought this up, and Diana mentioned the fact that we celebrate the stations of the cross . . . why don't we celebrate the stations of the resurrection?

GASP! And there it is.

I believe there are seven or eight specific instances described in scripture of Jesus appearing to disciples after his resurrection. That's about one for each week of Eastertide. There's my plan: I'm going to focus on one a week -- here on the blog, but also just in my life. I don't know what this will end up looking like, but it should be fun, yes?

And you're welcome to join me, friends. Happy Resurrection Day!

[Wanna start? Here's Resurrection Station #1.]