March 23, 2022

Five Reflections on Easter

This month we offer five reflections on the upcoming Easter holiday. Please share this digest with new members of your vestry and extend an invitation to subscribe to ECF Vital Practices to receive Vestry Papers, blogs, and the monthly digest.


The Rev. Lisa G. Fischbeck talks about her church’s Easter social dance in The Easter Dance. She reasons that, “There will be days and seasons ahead when we will grapple with the tough stuff of life and the challenge of faith. There will be liturgies in which we will sit still and put ourselves before God and listen -- a lot. But Easter is a day of joy and celebration. An Alleluia lived.”


In Open Eyes, Rich Simpson tells us that Easter is not just one day, but rather, “Easter begins at the empty tomb but does not end there. It unfolds over fifty days, culminating at Pentecost. The claim that Jesus was raised from the dead - that his body is not there but is to be found in the world, is the beginning of a journey, not a litmus test of belief.”


In this blog, Richelle Thompson also explains how Easter is not just one day, but an entire season unto itself that deserves to be celebrated. Unlike 40 days of Lent, “Easter is not about self-denial and introspection. It is celebration, the actual incarnation of sacred mystery, the ultimate triumph of life over death.”


Jeremiah Sierra encourages us to ensure the pathways of communication are open to all this Easter, especially newcomers. In Telling a Story Through Liturgy, he says, “Holy Week, and any of the gorgeous liturgies that Episcopalians participate in every Sunday, are not only a chance to remind ourselves about this story, but to tell it to others.”


In Giving our Church to our Children for Easter, Peter Strimer reminisces about his childhood church and being in the choir at Easter. He asks us to let the young ones explore, “So be sure to introduce your own young people to your church buildings…Let them be leaders. And don’t be afraid to let them roam wild and make the church their own.”