Back to Normal? Or a New Beginning?
If you go to any kind of store today, you will see that Easter is over. The plastic eggs will be half-price, and the Easter candy will be on clearance, never to be seen again until next February. There’s just one problem with that: no matter what the stores are saying, Easter isn’t over. Yesterday was Easter Sunday, but today is only the second in the 50 days of the Easter season, lasting until Pentecost. Which means that we are only just beginning the journey of the season of Resurrection. While yesterday may have been the day of the empty tomb, today is just as much the day of new beginnings.
Sometimes we journey through Lent thinking that we are running a marathon that ends with Easter Sunday. Some of us arrive exhausted, crashing through the finish line, maybe even ready to pick back up whatever we’ve given up for Lent.
But, the reality is that Lent is not the race. Lent is practice for what comes now. Because Easter is where we learn how to live in the joy of the Resurrection.
And so, it’s time to celebrate Easter. And yes the Easter season is for the next 50 days, but like the song we sang Sunday says, “Every morning is Easter morning from now on.” Let’s keep it going beyond 50 days. How will you do it? Will you live in the promise of the Resurrection? Will you let joy and love guide you? And will you let new life take root in you?
In a very real way, you’re still on page one. The choice is yours what comes next.
(Adapted from a devotional found in Still Speaking)
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Carolyn