Enjoy the hope of Easter!

Christians worldwide are celebrating the holiest week of the year right now. The birth of Jesus was the beginning, but without His death and resurrection, His birth would lack meaning. I love the Easter season. It welcomes spring’s showy colors, the rebirth of all the dormant parts of nature, and most of all it assures my eternal life.

My memories of Easter Sunday from my childhood include Sunrise Service, followed by a pancake breakfast. The men usually cooked. As a child I always got a new dress and matching hat and purse. And who could forget the white (at least for the day) gloves? Most of the women wore corsages.

The church was decorated with pot after pot of blooming white lilies, the air full of their scent. Time marches on, as do traditions. Gone are the hats, the gloves and the corsages. We don’t have a Sunrise Service anymore, but one tradition that remains is the Easter Lily. There is a good reason the lily has endured when gloves and pancakes have passed into history. Easter Lilies represent purity and goodness. They help us remember that Jesus was pure and perfect when he died on the Cross.

His victory over death is a sweet scent for us.

I usually have family and friends over for lunch after worship on Easter Sunday. I don’t have a lily because the pollen is toxic to pets, but I do have spring flowers, this year yellow tulips, to remind me of the season. We have ham. I make rolls, and the rest is hit or miss year to year. But we gather to share the victory of the day! Christ has risen!

I hope you spend time this week remembering what is taking place that leads up to the most holy of days: the mock trial, the beatings, the crucifixion. Betrayal and unimaginable pain. Without the sacrifice of our Lord, we would be without hope and doomed to suffer the consequences of our sins.

Have a blessed Easter!

Regina