Easter Happens!
Have you ever wondered how the date of Easter is calculated? Last year it was April 8. Christy and I were married eleven years ago on Easter Sunday, and it was March 30. The date of Easter has to do with the lunar calendar. A general, not always perfectly scientific way to summarize it is to say Easter is observed on the Sunday after the first full moon on or after the day of the vernal equinox. This year Easter is March 23, one of the earliest dates in recent memory, and it will not be on March 23 again until the year 2160. Yes, you read that right: 2160.
It would be so much easier if Easter were a fixed date, like Christmas. Things are further complicated this year because Holy Week, the seven days before Easter, begins March 16. Cities throughout the country that regularly celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with parades and festivities are being asked by the Catholic Church to not do these things during Holy Week. This is the first time in 40 years this conflict has occurred on the calendar. Many St. Patrick’s festivities have been moved to March 14. Even in a secular society the Church still has some pull!
As if that were not enough, this year Holy Week is the same week as Spring Break. I know this is a random occurrence, but when I discovered it I was very annoyed. I knew immediately this would impact things like Holy Week services, the Easter egg hunt, possibly attendance on Easter morning. We are already overscheduled and overstressed. With the calendar really putting things out of balance this year, will we miss Easter—the highpoint of the Christian year— in all the travel and confusion?
For those not traveling, I’d like to invite you to very meaningful Holy Week services, beginning on Palm/Passion Sunday, March 16. The choir will perform a cantata, Song of the Shadows. Holy Thursday (the 20th) service will be in Fellowship Hall, led by Rev. John Fowler of the Presbyterian Church. Good Friday (the 21st) will be in the Sanctuary. And Easter Sunday we’ll have three services, 8:00, 9:15, 10:45. There will be an egg hunt for the kids at 9:30. If you are out of town for Spring Break, I hope you will worship with family or come back early to worship
with us.
Whether we’re too busy to notice or not, the tomb is still empty! Praise be to God!
It would be so much easier if Easter were a fixed date, like Christmas. Things are further complicated this year because Holy Week, the seven days before Easter, begins March 16. Cities throughout the country that regularly celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with parades and festivities are being asked by the Catholic Church to not do these things during Holy Week. This is the first time in 40 years this conflict has occurred on the calendar. Many St. Patrick’s festivities have been moved to March 14. Even in a secular society the Church still has some pull!
As if that were not enough, this year Holy Week is the same week as Spring Break. I know this is a random occurrence, but when I discovered it I was very annoyed. I knew immediately this would impact things like Holy Week services, the Easter egg hunt, possibly attendance on Easter morning. We are already overscheduled and overstressed. With the calendar really putting things out of balance this year, will we miss Easter—the highpoint of the Christian year— in all the travel and confusion?
For those not traveling, I’d like to invite you to very meaningful Holy Week services, beginning on Palm/Passion Sunday, March 16. The choir will perform a cantata, Song of the Shadows. Holy Thursday (the 20th) service will be in Fellowship Hall, led by Rev. John Fowler of the Presbyterian Church. Good Friday (the 21st) will be in the Sanctuary. And Easter Sunday we’ll have three services, 8:00, 9:15, 10:45. There will be an egg hunt for the kids at 9:30. If you are out of town for Spring Break, I hope you will worship with family or come back early to worship
with us.
Whether we’re too busy to notice or not, the tomb is still empty! Praise be to God!
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