The Week After

Isn’t it amazing how fast time flies? It seems like Christmas and Valentine’s Day were just celebrated and now Easter has come and gone!

Did your families attend church together on Easter Sunday? If so, feel blessed because many families aren’t so fortunate. There are many families who don’t attend church at all. We church-going folks need to change that. Our minister mentioned last Sunday that our churches may be in a big rut.

Congregation numbers are dwindling and we are responsible. We cannot continue to do the same old things if our churches are to grow. Get out and invite your neighbors to join you at church. Think of new things to incorporate into your worship services. New people can give you new ideas!

During Lent, church members brought a certain item each Sunday for the women and children who stay at Madeline’s House. At each closing, we would join hands and bless the items to be sent there. Some of the items blessed were bars of soap, writing tablets and pens, toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, lady’s razors, and washcloths. It was interesting to see what item could be thought of from one week to another that someone in that situation would need. The last item were small tote bags into which the items were divided and prepared to be delivered.

Our congregation, under the suggestion of a new member, held an Easter egg hunt for the young, the teenagers, and those who were “not-so-young.” Three different hunts were incorporated into a fun-filled afternoon.

First, the older kids helped the little ones hunt on one side of the front walk for their eggs. Then, the little ones helped the teenagers hunt on the other side of the front walk for their eggs. It seems like all were out helping the “young-at-heart” hunt for their eggs in the big backyard.

Visitors also joined in on the hunt and seemed to enjoy the cool afternoon. Afterwards, delicious cake was enjoyed by all in attendance.

On Easter morning, everyone woke up to the pitter-patter of raindrops just before sunrise services. I don’t know about other congregations but our service was moved inside!  This reporter is famous for saying, “If Easter was moved to July, it would still be cold.”

Of course, one realizes that the date for Easter changes every year. For this reason, Easter has been called the movable feast. Listen up: a month’s weather is at stake! I will try to give a short version of how Easter is determined.

We celebrate Easter on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox on March 21st. Therefore, Easter can be observed anywhere between March 22nd and April 25th every year. Next year, 2017, Easter will be celebrated on April 16th.

The spring or March Equinox is the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator (the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator) from south to north.

The 50-day period following Easter Sunday is called Eastertide and includes Jesus’ ascension into heaven.