Here is a riddle: They used to do every week; now we do it just once a year. What is it? Easter of course; well sort of anyway. In the early Christian church there was not a yearly commemoration of Easter, but they considered every Sunday a celebration of the resurrection.

So when did the yearly celebration of Easter begin?The early Jewish Christians linked Easter with the Passover and celebrated it on April 14 every year regardless of the day of the week. Later the annual celebration was moved to the Lord's Day (Sunday). It was the Council of Nicea (we just read about them in our adult study group) that decided on the current system of the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox.

But the real question is, when do you celebrate the Easter experience? And how often do you celebrate the resurrection ? Frequently I hope/

Resurrection, n. 1 The rising of Christ from the dead. 2 To rise again. 3 Resurgence, renewal.

Easter is arguably the biggest celebration of the Christian year, without it, Christmas would make now sense. Easter seems to have avoided most of the schmarmy sentimentality that seems to plague Christmas. I guess it is harder to sell a death and resurrection that it is to sell a birthday. And besides, not many people are threatened by a baby (except Herod of course). But resurrection is threatening, because it changes everything.

If we let God's resurrection power invade our lives it means we cannot give up, no matter how bleak things look, because God has the power to bestow new life Resurrection means that hope never runs dry and when we see those glimmers of light we follow them. Resurrection threatens us because it means we can't do the same ol' same ol' because God is doing a new thing and God expects us to join the parade. Check out Isaiah 43:15-21.

Back in the day when I thought my calling might be in the field of counseling, we studied family systems. The idea was that any change to one person in the family would necessitate a change in all the people, because they would need to relate differently to the changed person. That change can mess up patterns that feel comfortable because they are familiar but which are really destructive. Resurrections do the dame thing. They can threaten us because now we have to change from familiar patterns to that we can experience God's new thing. But the sense of threat is small compared to the possibilities of new life and the new hope God offers. One of the songs we sing in the Celebrations says, "God can make a way where there isn't a way, that's what the love of God can do."

I hope you will be with us to celebrate Easter this year (April 4). More than that, I hope you will celebrate the resurrection with us weekly, and I hope you will experience and celebrate God's resurrection power in your life as often as it happens: hourly, daily, moment to moment.

God's Peace,
Mark