5 Ways to Celebrate the Resurrection!
As Easter approaches, here are five ways to celebrate the resurrection. Easter is the most holy of holidays in the Christian world. Why not make the most of this amazing time?
Attend an event recalling the resurrection.
Last Saturday, with a group from Trinity Lutheran Church in Auburn Illinois, we went to the 100th anniversary, and final performance of the American Passion Play in Bloomington, Illinois.
While there are other Passion Plays, what I loved was the story of Jesus ministry. It covered from the Sermon on the Mount to the Resurrection and Ascension. The Play and actors offered historically accurate settings and costumes placed in first century Galilee. Most of the text in the play is directly from the Bible.
The play was at the former Scottish Rites Temple that today is the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts. Attending an event that shares Jesus’ life and story brings the Easter message home. I want to go back and take a tour of the building.
Enjoy a Lenten Service
At Trinity Lutheran in Auburn, during Lent, they offer a meal and Wednesday evening services. The season wraps with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, then the actual Easter Sunday service. This is a wonderful way to prepare your heart for Easter and Jesus resurrection.
Attend an event that honors farmers focusing on rebirth.
This past Sunday, the Pawnee Assembly of God (PAG) had their first annual event blessing farmers before the planting season began. The event offered a breakfast, and service with a prayer for the farmers and their families in attendance for a safe and blessed season. Pastor A.B. Bennett referred to the planting of the crop and that harvest is a reminder of how seeds are placed in the ground, then emerge rising from the soil in a rebirth. The planting and harvest are often used as examples of our lives on earth and transition to Heaven. This is just an example of one event with farmers as the planting season comes that will remind us of God’s circle of life and Jesus’ resurrection rising from the dead.
Enjoy a Friday Fish Fry!
Easter offers the once-a-year Friday fish fry opportunity. Enjoy the various places and join together and support local churches,and non-profit organizations during Lent. It is also a time to have some great fish! We stopped in Auburn at the local Catholic Church and enjoyed the wonderful food they prepared.
Order an Easter Lily or spring flower.
At Trinity, for the Easter Service, we get the chance to order flowers for the service, then take them home after the service is over. The flowers are ordered in honor of someone that has passed. The lilies fill the church with their beauty that symbolize new life and purity. I have always enjoyed getting the flower, then bringing them home and planting them. Several resurrection lilies come up under a tree outside our window bringing joy and the season to life. I also have a Christmas cactus that often blooms on Easter Sunday as well.
Taking a hike or just stopping to see flowers emerging helps bring the thought of new life home. Reading the gospel and remembering the promise of life after death is the hope that we pin our faith on. It is what this Easter resurrection holiday is all about, the crux of the Christian heart.
What do you do to celebrate the days up to Easter?
