By the time you read this, Easter Day will have come and
gone, and yet we will still be in Eastertide. The resurrection of
Christ was such a tremendous event and indeed is such a wonderful
reality, that it simply can’t be contained in one day however
important. So the Church gives us fifty days, ending on the Feast of
Pentecost, to let the glorious truth of Christ’s resurrection sink in.
Actually, in practical terms, it can be quite difficult to celebrate
even something as wonderful as the Resurrection for such a long period
of time. After the excitement of Easter Day itself the rest of
Eastertide may seem to be a bit of an anti-climax and we may be hard
pressed to keep the sense of resurrection joy and wonder alive for a
whole seven weeks. For one thing there aren’t enough Easter hymns to
last for all that time without undue repetition!
I think that part of our difficulty here, is that we live in a culture
which seldom allows us to linger over anything, certainly never for
seven weeks! No sooner is Christmas over than Easter eggs appear in the
supermarkets, and when people are walking around in t-shirts and shorts
on hot summer days the shops are already full of autumn and winter
clothing. We are constantly being pushed onwards from one new thing to
another with hardly a moment to take a breath or get our bearings.
In her great wisdom, the Church urges us to slow down a bit, to take
that breath, and to get those bearings. ‘You’ve had forty days of
penitence’ she says, ‘now have fifty of celebration!’ So, let’s respond
to that invitation and take time this Eastertide to allow the truth of
the risen Christ to sink in to our hearts and minds. Christians have
been called the ‘Easter People’. Let’s give ourselves time to discover
what being the Easter people might actually mean.
What resources are there to help us to do this? The liturgy of Easter
has a particularly joyful character with lots of ‘Alleluias’, there are
wonderful hymns to sing and the Easter Candle shines at the front of
church as a visible reminder of Christ’s conquest of the darkness
of sin and death – all this can help us to keep that sense of wonder
alive. The Sunday scripture readings have been especially chosen to
help us experience the presence of the risen Lord. The first reading
for every Sunday in Eastertide, is always from the Acts of the
Apostles, and speaks to us of the presence of the risen Christ in the
life of the early church. And each week the Gospel Readings tell us, in
turn, of: Christ’s appearance to his disciples in the upper room
offering them his peace (Easter 2); the risen Jesus walking to Emmaus
with the two disciples explaining the scriptures and being made known
to them in the breaking of the bread (Easter 3); Christ the Good
Shepherd (Easter 4); His promise that he goes to prepare a place for us
in his Kingdom (Easter 5); and the promise of the gift of the Holy
Spirit (Easter 6). There is much to ponder on and to wonder at in these
passages from the Bible!
In Lent and Passiontide we are used to keeping the ‘Stations of the
Cross’ in which we try to follow Jesus on his ‘via dolorosa’ to
Calvary. In recent years a similar ‘Stations of the Resurrection’ has
been devised to help Christians appreciate the stories of Easter
better. Maybe we can arrange to follow these at some point this
Eastertide. Watch this space!
So, there is much to help us become Christ’s ‘Easter People’, to grow
in the mystery of Christ’s presence with us and to share it with those
we meet day by day. If Christ truly has risen then everything has
changed and this must surely be reflected in the way we live. I wish
you all the joy of the risen Lord this Eastertide.