What an Easter Sunday! From the sunrise service to fellowship over breakfast, the beautiful decorations in the sanctuary to a Spirit-filled time of worship and celebration, what an Easter celebration…
Easter is a chance to celebrate the greatest event in the history of the world: the death and resurrection of Jesus. But what now? What do we do now that we’ve taken our Easter pictures, eaten our Easter lunches, and the eggs have been put away for next year’s hunt? How do we carry the joy and hope of Easter on to the rest of our year?
In the days after the resurrection during the Biblical story, we see Jesus’ ascension into heaven and the Holy Spirit coming to the apostles in Acts 2, what we now call Pentecost. After the resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days on earth before he ascended, and then there were 10 more days after that before Pentecost–50 days total. On the traditional Christian calendar, the 50 days from Easter to Pentecost is known as the broader season of Easter, or Eastertide.
“Tide” is an older English word that means “time” or “season.” To put it all together, we are now in the Eastertide, the Easter Season. That’s good news for those who like to decorate, you can justify leaving up those Easter decorations for another 7 weeks!
The word “tide” has a different connotation for me. Having lived on the coast of North Carolina, I’ve seen many tides come and go on the beach at Caswell. You may have heard the expression, “ride the tide.” What if during this Easter season we as a church did just that? What if we “ride the tide” of Easter morning and allow that joy, that hope, to be present with us every day for the next seven weeks?
As we ride the joyful wave from Easter, let us walk each and every day in the resurrection.
Prayer: God, we are humbled by the resurrection of Your Son, Jesus. Give us the strength to live as Easter people. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Grace and peace,
Aaron
pastoraaronhinton@gmail.com
(704) 300-0081