Beloved in Christ:
Alleluia, Christ is risen! A blessed Easter to you all, in the beginning of the Great Fifty Days of Easter. The Easter season continues through Pentecost, which is on Sunday, May 19 – a day to wear red and to celebrate the Holy Spirit among us. Until then, we will continue to burn the Paschal candle and to greet one another in worship with the “Alleluia, Christ is risen, Christ is risen indeed” greeting. The Fifty Days of Easter is a time to continually be reminded of the power of God who entered human history through the person of Jesus Christ and who created a new hope and possibility for life and light for the whole world through the resurrection of Jesus, when God took a tomb that had been filled with death and caused it to be filled with new life, now and forever.
One rather small way that we remind ourselves of the great miracle of Easter is through liturgical changes. Through Pentecost, we will burn the Paschal candle, which is a symbol of who we are and whose we are from before our births until after our deaths. The Paschal candle (particularly beautiful this year, and donated by Jeff and Dawn Daehn in memory of Dawn’s parents) burns at every baptism and at every funeral throughout the year, and often at significant memorial events. During the Fifty Days of Easter, we put the community confession aside, in order to remind ourselves that we are a forgiven people, and that we are “worthy to stand before God,” as Eucharistic Prayer B says. Specifically, we say that “in [Christ], you have delivered us from evil, and made us worthy to stand before you. In him, you have brought us out of error into truth, out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life.” These lines are what make Eucharistic Prayer B my favorite prayer for Holy Communion, although I love them all.
These two changes, along with the repeating of the Alleluia greeting and using the white altar coverings, are meant to carry us through these times in celebration and in joy. I am grateful for our tradition of following a seasonal church calendar in addition to our human calendar – for Easter is not just one day, it is a whole season. But of course, it is a lifetime journey of following the Risen Christ.
Alleluia Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia.
In joy,
Beth+
