Easter Tide

Does anybody else ever feel like the Monday after Easter is kind of a let down? With Christmas  we have New Years just a week away and as kids we were still off from school so the season seemed to linger a little longer. But with Easter it’s just back to business as usual the very next day. Which feels weird to me because of the significance of the holiday.

In actuality, however, Sunday marked the beginning of the liturgical season of Easteride. Eastertide “begins on Easter Sunday and lasts for fifty days, concluding on the day of Pentecost. It is…known as…a period to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his ascension to heaven. During this time, Christians also acknowledge the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. The meaning of Eastertide is the period from Easter to Ascension Day…” (Wikipedia). So we really are meant to linger a little longer with this special day, about 50 days longer, to be exact.

One of my favorite parts of observing Lent is journaling through the events of Holy Week, reading each day what was happening as Jesus drew closer to the cross. The week is meant to feel heavy as it marches toward the crucifixion. The heaviness adds to the joy of resurrection Sunday. Reading the story of the women coming to the tomb and finding it empty, then being told by an angel that Jesus is not here because He’s alive, and to go and tell the disciples, this story never gets old for me! As I read through Luke 24: 1-53 I was caught up in the accounts of Jesus revealing himself to his followers as the risen Christ.

About a week or so ago I had the idea of using these last few days of April to journal those events, the revelations of the risen Christ to the first Christians. We’re going to back up and start with His appearance to the women at the tomb and work forward from there, keeping in mind that these events took place somewhere over a 40 day time frame, although it reads like just a couple of days. It’s important to keep the time frame in mind because it adds to the wonder of the resurrected Lord walking around and interacting with people, showing himself as the friend they knew and the God they worshiped.  I think it speaks volumes about his love for us.

P.S. Ascension Day is on Thursday, May 29 this year!