Easter Thoughts

Easter should be a celebration bigger than Christmas. It's Resurrection Day! If Jesus had not resurrected, he would not have overcome death, and we would still be dead in our sins. Jesus has made us white as snow so that we may spend eternity with God. That is reason for celebration!

Sitting in church we are surrounded by families gathered to celebrate the holiday. Our pastor speaks of the forever family and the feast to be enjoyed when we are all together in heaven with God. We, Tom and I, sit in church alone, and I don't feel much like celebrating. My thoughts wander to the family celebration that will occur tomorrow as my family in Wisconsin gathers at my sister's house to enjoy time together. There is always an egg hunt (rain, snow, or sun) for the nieces and nephews. There are many people and much fellowship as our family and some members of her husband's family gather on this special day. They all recognize the importance of this holiday and I believe it is because they are a Catholic family.

I grew up Catholic. We went to church every Sunday and all the other sacred holidays. We didn't eat meat on Fridays during lent, and we gave something up for those six weeks. When I was little, we couldn't wear pants to church, and our heads always had to be covered. The Catholic church recognizes that the church is a sacred place, God is holy, and we humans do well to remember our place; we are sinners and we need a Savior. There seemed to be so many rules.

It would be much later in my life that I would understand that these "rules" were really the churches way of helping us remember just how holy God is.  I would see these remembrances as rules that I did not want to follow. Today, I attend an independent community church. I love the worship, I love the teaching, I love so much about my church, but in an effort to draw the unsaved, have we lost what it means to understand that God is holy? It seems anything goes. People bring their coffee into church. Men do not remove their hats. It doesn't matter how you are dressed for church, it just matters that you are there. I wonder if we have become too casual about church; too casual about our relationship with God. So casual that we no longer understand the importance of the Easter holiday.

Today, we sit in church alone. I pray it will not always be this way. I pray that it will be a holiday of family, a future family filled with grandchildren. I look forward to the day of the forever family, where no one is missing. No one has other plans or something more enticing drawing them away. We will all be together and we will have forever to visit and be together. 

Until then, I must delight in the small celebrations. I must view the small celebrations as baby steps toward the big event. And I guess if I am really honest, baby steps are about all I can handle right now. Tomorrow, when I would really prefer a large family around the table, I shall rejoice in the small gathering of friends and family who have not lost sight of the meaning of the day.