Celebrating Easter

"…go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead…'" Matthew 28.7

This year it really bothered me that we didn't celebrate Easter with anything other than an Easter Egg Hunt (and many thanks go to the Bauers, Colvins, Zagelows, and teens for making sure that happened). I know Easter is over, so I thought it would be safe to ask whether it is even appropriate to celebrate Easter; and if we do, how we might.

In the past we've done different things to observe Easter. We've watched The Passion and also put up crosses to mark the Easter month. Some have objected to the crosses, to use of the word 'Easter', and to any special observance on that day. Their reasoning? "We celebrate the resurrection every Sunday." But do we really? If we do what we normally do, are we really giving it particular or special attention?
By definition, celebrating something means you give particular and special attention to it. Imagine what your kids would think if you said, "We're not going to have presents, cake, or ice cream. We celebrate your birthday every day, so we don't need to do anything else." Imagine what your wife would say on your wedding anniversary if you told her, "Honey, I celebrate our wedding every day so we're not doing anything differently today." Would there be peace in your house or the weeping and gnashing of teeth?

If we, as a congregation, don't do anything to celebrate Easter, do we risk showing people we really don't care about something that non-Christians believe is the holiest day for Christians? If we Christians don't celebrate it, do we turn Easter over to the Easter Bunny, eggs, baby chicks, and chocolate? It would be the same as turning Christmas over to Santa Claus, Frosty, Rudolph, and commercialism.
Let's say we will celebrate Easter. Celebrating Jesus' Resurrection in some special way does raise questions. What day would we or should we celebrate it if we do? Early in the church's history (second to fourth centuries), the church observed Easter on the Jewish Passover or the Sunday right after the Passover. A second century Pope separated the celebration from the Passover. That's why Orthodox churches celebrate Easter on a different day than Europe and America (this year they're a month apart).

How would or should we celebrate Easter? Again, the early church celebrated it the same way Jews celebrated the Passover. In the Christian observance, obviously, the lamb was said to represent The Lamb of God and salvation from sin as the New Exodus. The early church celebrated with fasting, scripture reading, chanting, Eucharist (Lord's Supper), and a sermon. A whole week of celebration and special instruction took place, especially for those who were finishing up their preparation to be baptized (the early church took a long time to get people ready to be baptized because of fierce persecution).

Finally, if we observe Easter, what should we call it? In the Greek New Testament, the word used is Pascha (Greek for Passover). The early church called it Pascha, and it is called Pascha in Greece to this day.

Obviously, there are some things we cannot do to celebrate Easter as the early church did without confusing people. For instance, it would confuse people if we changed Easter to the Orthodox date even though I think it is more biblical. I wouldn't mind calling Easter, Pascha; but again, that would create more confusion in our culture than just using the word, 'Easter'.

If we're really going to celebrate the resurrection every Sunday, then someone needs to plan something different every Sunday to do so. Who is willing to accept this mission? Otherwise, next year, will some of you help me really celebrate the day/week/event that is the foundation of our faith in Jesus Christ.