It's Resurrection Sunday! We celebrate Jesus' resurrection, as well as His victory over death and evil. In the ancient church, this was when new converts (as well as those returning to the fold), would be baptized and become full members after multiple years of education about the faith. In the past, there would be all-night vigils from Saturday night until Sunday morning. Nowadays, some Christians have a service from 10pm Saturday until 1am Sunday, with a communion service at midnight. Easter is not a day, as many in the Church believe, but it is a season that runs from Resurrection Sunday up through Pentecost Sunday (50 days after Easter). This site here has a lot of the history of Easter and how it has been celebrated.
Today, we will read from Matthew 28:1-15, Mark 16:1-12, Luke 24:1-12, and John 20. (By all means, we can read all of Matthew 28 and Mark 16 to also get Jesus' Commission, as well as all of Luke 24, to read about Jesus' other appearances and His ascension into heaven, but the selections above focus on His resurrection.)
How is our celebration of Resurrection Sunday different from a secular celebration of Easter? If we drew a vinn diagram, how much similarities would there be between a secular person's and religious person's expenditures, activities, and celebrations? It is a worthy question to carefully weigh our answer.
Our culture has turned Easter into an overly-commercialized day of gluttony and self-indulgence. Rather than viewing our actions as avoiding the bunnies, chicks, marshmallow sweets, eggs, and other commercialized money traps, we can reclaim Holy Week as a time of church traditions instead of store purchases.
Sure, we can twist Christian meaning into the commercialization of this set of Holy Days, but are we really showing ourselves to be different from the world by our activities and purchases? If we put a chocolate cross into a basket instead of a bunny, are we really being that different from the world? Should a chocolate version of Jesus' execution implement be sold as candy? If we have the same Easter baskets, egg hunts, and celebrations with just a few extra sentences about the Christian veneer we are painting over these secular traditions, are we showing ourselves to be different from the world?
I think there are plenty of resources that show ways to "Christianize" secular Easter traditions, but it is my hope that as the Church we spend more time focusing on the sacred and religious traditions that are the Church's special way of celebrating and commemorating this holy day. Using Christianized secular traditons and reading Christian meaning into secular objects can be a good way to build a bridge with our non-Christians friends and relatives as we use their objects to point to Christ, but we could question their place in the Church and in the lives of Christians.
How will you celebrate this Resurrection Sunday?
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