“Happy Easter!” A bit late? After all, yesterday was Mother’s Day. But we all know that every day is Mother’s Day just like Christians celebrate Christ’s resurrection every time they gather to worship. We simply place a greater emphasis once a year.
However, not every church celebrates Easter at the same time. The Eastern Orthodox Christian Church celebrated their “Pasca” a week ago. That was the first Sunday following the first full moon of the spring equinox – after the Jews had completed celebrating the Passover. The Orthodox calculation for Easter, usually places Pasca after the Protestant and Catholic celebrations of Easter.
I think that is fantastic! I not only get two Resurrection Sundays, but I can buy the candy at the clearance sale prices, prepare baskets and still be on time. My daughter-in-love can purchase her children’s Easter wardrobe after the outfits are marked down.
Personally, I like being able to celebrate Easter twice. First with the songs and traditions in which I grew up, and then a week or month later with the ancient songs and traditions of the Orthodox liturgy.
A month ago our church celebrated with an Easter sun rise service. Last week our grandchildren went to bed early Saturday evening, were awakened before midnight to be dressed in their Easter finest to go to church followed by a carry-in dinner served around 1:30 a.m. This year, at my son’s request, I prepared a pot roast which disappeared – even if it was way past dark-thirty.
The three hours service included reading passages about the resurrection, singing of the Pasca hymns, a midnight exodus to march around the darkened church to re-enter a suddenly, brightly lit sanctuary decorated with white flowers. After the service was over the priest came to the front of the congregation, reached into a huge bowl filled with red-dyed eggs, took out two and, to the children’s delight, tossed them into the congregation.
Throughout the service the congregation frequently broke into a peppy chorus, “Christ is from risen from the dead, trampling out death by death and upon those in the tomb bestowing life.”
We sang it so much that the next morning, my granddaughter sang it over and over. She stopped long enough to look up at her dad and say, “What is trampling?”
“It is like stamping the feet.”
“Oh.” she proceeded to stamp through the house singing.
At the post-midnight meal, families repeatedly called out “Christ is risen!” in their native Euro-Asian languages to which the correct response is, “Truly, He is risen.”
The children enjoyed their middle of the night romp in the fellowship hall. They collapsed into bed, but were up early enough the next morning. Big sister greeted everyone repeatedly with, “Christ is risen!” and waited for the appropriate response. She could spit it out quicker than I could turn it around so she had to answer me. I only said it first a couple times.
A bit of a game? Yes, for a child, but at the same time, the truths go deep and will stay in her mind a long time. Years later when she is going through a time of death, a time when she feels that all is lost, the truth will return: that in the midst of death, there is hope: “Christ is risen!”
“Yes! Truly he is risen.”
Happy Easter … Happy Pasca, or if you insist we go by our calendar – I hope you had a Happy Mother’s Day yesterday.