Dear friends in Christ at Peace and Grue,
I have for the past few months used my newsletter article to comment on the liturgical seasons. The liturgical calendar organizes the church year by identifying two cycles of feasts or holy days-one dependent upon the movable date of Easter Day, which always falls between March 22 and April 25, and the other dependent upon December 25, the fixed date of Christmas Day.
The church year begins on the first Sunday of Advent. The Sundays of Advent are always the four Sundays before Christmas Day. The date of Easter determines the beginning of the season of Lent and the date of Pentecost on the fiftieth day of the Easter season. The time between the season of Christmas, which last twelve days, and Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of Lent, is the season of Epiphany. Epiphany can be as few as four weeks and as many as nine depending on the date of Easter.
The word Easter is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for the Spring goddess Eostre. Early Christians applied the word to the principal festival of the church year, both the day and the season. Jesus’ resurrection on the Sunday or third day following his crucifixion is at the heart of Christian faith, the eighth day of a new creation. Easter links this story of deliverance and the proclamation of the risen Christ to the season of Spring. In the Western Church (as opposed to the Eastern Orthodox Church), Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the full moon on or after the Spring Equinox. Easter Sunday is the high point of the Church year.
So it makes sense that we would party, in this case for fifty days, in contrast to our Lenten fast which lasts forty days (not including Sundays). Why fifty days of Easter? It's actually quite simple. In the first chapter of Acts, Luke writes, Jesus “presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.”
Jesus spent forty days on earth before he ascended, and then there were ten more days after that before the Day of Pentecost.
In the second chapter of Acts, we find the followers of Jesus gathered in Jerusalem for the Day of Pentecost, which actually means “fifty.” The feast of Pentecost was originally a harvest first fruits celebration that later evolved into a commemoration of the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. For Christians the great fifty days of Easter are a celebration of the Resurrection of Christ and all that means for us, leading to the launching of the Christian Church and its mission on Pentecost.
During this Easter season there is no fasting. The Council of Nicaea (325) directed that Christians are to pray standing. The word “alleluia” (praise the Lord) is said or sung repeatedly, which contrasts sharply with the season of Lent when the alleluia is omitted. The color of liturgical vestments and hangings is white or gold, and it is customary for the Christ candle to burn at all services during the Easter season. After all, the main point of the whole gospel is to prepare us for an eternal celebration and feast. Fasting will pass away, as Jesus said (Luke 5:33-39), but the Great Feast of the Lamb will last for ages of ages. So let the feasting begin!
Enjoy Spring and the explosion of new life that comes with it, especially the new life we have been given in Jesus Christ our Lord.
In Christ,
Pastor Dan