Easter

It is Saturday; the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In my life it usually becomes just an ordinary day to work at home, do some business, or do something with Diane.

When we were mission workers in Africa (Botswana), the churches we worked with celebrated Easter by gathering together for the whole weekend. They would meet on Thursday at the location where their church was founded. Friday would be somber, with worship gatherings and communion. The worship would begin on Saturday night and go all through the night with lots of preaching and singing. As the sun rose, the Resurrection of our Lord was celebrated with baptisms. After breakfast they would return to their homes. But, Saturday was also a day of relaxing, hanging out with church friends from other locations, sleeping, etc.

What should we do on this day of confusion and grieving for the disciples, Mary and the women? It is hard, even for the African Indigenous Church people, to hold the intensity of the story through the whole weekend. Is it irreverent to return to ordinary life after the intensity of the cross on Good Friday? Some of us start returning to ordinary things already on Friday afternoon. My best answer to this question is that, while this is a weekend of commemoration filled with immense grief and great joy, and the most important weekend in the church year, it is only a commemoration. What we do with Jesus' calling on our lives through the rest of the year is what matters most to him.

I welcome your thoughts.