Happy Ressurection Day :)

So, perhaps April was a bad time to take up the commitment to blog daily. In my other life, I'm writing three papers and working on a programming project or two, all of which have to be finished within the next two weeks.

So today is Easter. Easter. I love this holiday. Of course I love it because it is the day that we celebrate our risen LORD and that it is because He rose that we have hope and a future. But I also love the way that it is celebrated, or perhaps it is better said, the way it is not celebrated.

Sure, there are Easter egg hunts, and bunny and egg shaped candies of all sorts in the grocery stores, but these things are almost entirely optional, especially once you get past the age of 12. But most people don't even notice Easter. The whole world doesn't stop for Easter (mind you, this can be annoying) and there are not obligatory celebrations. You haven't got the whole week off from school. You aren't expected to decorate your house or buy seasonal greenery. There's no never-ending line-up of Easter television specials. You don't have to buy gifts for everyone you know and you don't have to attend a party for every single social group you belong to.

You may (and might I say should) go to church. You may have a meal with your family. But everything else is up to you. There aren't so many trappings to get tied up in or traditions to mistake for the celebration of the true holiday. Easter is celebrated in the hearts of every believer, personally remembering what made his relationship with Christ possible, almost like an anniversary between lovers. Easter is also celebrated communally, as a people overwhelmed with gratitude for God's grace and astonished by his love and dominion.

You want to celebrate Easter? You can't follow a prescribed cultural formula. Chances are, the world is still moving at break-neck speed around you and you must make a choice to stop



and remember what God has done. And this is just like our relationship with Him. It is ours, and no one else's. It is not passed down to us by our parents or inferred upon us by the culture we grow up in. It is not earned by anything we buy or by anything we do. It is not upheld by going to church or by observing traditions. It is the choice of an individual to accept Christ's work on the cross. It is upheld within a community, in which we rejoice together in what He has done. I think it is beautiful that Christians' most pivotal holiday is observed in the same way as our faith: individually and communally, perhaps informed by tradition or culture but not defined by them, nor dependent on them. Our celebration of the resurrection, like our walk with Jesus, confounds the world. As it is written, "the message of the cross is foolishness to the perishing..." (1 Corinthians 1:18) and nonetheless we celebrate.

In writing this, I started out content in my celebration of Easter, but as I see where this writing has lead me, I finish saddened that all do not understand the message of the cross. Perhaps I should not revel so much in my own salvation, but rejoice to take it to the ends of the earth. Tonight, my prayer is with the believers of Acts 4, "...enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." Amen.