Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Easter Season

In the Christian liturgical calendar, Easter, is not just Easter Sunday, Easter is a season of fifty days that begins on Easter Sunday and extends all the way to Pentecost. The word "Pente" means 50. Pentecost celebrates the day in the history of the church when after Jesus had gone, the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples and charged them with remembering and proclaiming Jesus' message .

The season of Easter has some similarities to the season of Lent which preceded it. Lent is a 40 day preparation for the new life that is proclaimed on Easter Day. During Lent Christian's contemplate the reality of the human condition, our mortality, our frailty, our dependence on help from beyond ourselves, and thus our need for what Christians regard as the gift of salvation that occurs on Easter.

It seems fitting that if it takes 40 days to contemplate our frailty, that we should have at least 50 days to celebrate our gift of life. That Easter is not just a day, or a one week spring break, but a seven week season of the church allows us room to really appreciate the joy of life. This is the season when like the natural world around us bursting into Spring, we should be bursting our old bonds, feeling our power, showing our colors, singing our new songs, making new life and more life for ourselves and those around us.

If you haven't yet emerged from your winter now is the time. And if you have come into spring see if you can claim even more life. This is the season of abundance and generosity and energy. feel it on your skin and in your bones and take a few weeks now to really live every day.

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