A Day More Lovely Than the Rest

On the liturgical calendar, Easter lasts for 7 Sundays and is commonly referred to as “The Great 50 Days.” It takes 50 days for us to celebrate, practice and experience this core belief of our faith—that “he is not here, he has been raised, as he said.” It takes 50 days for us to learn the lesson “do not be afraid,” “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” A season so grand needs a proper inaugural.
 
And God provided. We greeted each other that morning with the traditional Easter greeting: “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” We sang the stirring songs of faith “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today” and “Thine is the Glory” with the Joyful Noise ensemble. An earthquake and the message from an angel—that God has begun a new creation—made the women leave the tomb “with fear and great joy.” And then, like the church has done for thousands of years, we celebrated the sacrament of baptism and welcomed new members. The chancel was full of people and the sanctuary was filled with the Spirit. We all remembered the gift of baptism--that we have died to the ways of sin and death and been raised to new life in Christ, the risen Lord. It was like a birthday for all of us, as Ruth Bailey played “Amazing Grace” on the piano. After service the narthex was full of smiling people posing for more pictures. The sound of laughter rang in my ears.

After church my family stopped in Sunnyvale and took pictures in the bluebonnets. The state flower drew out many other families to take advantage of the beauty of the day. As we drove home I saw other families out holding their babies, letting the children run in the parks covered in blue. There was life everywhere. It was like everyone was echoing the psalm lesson for Easter, “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Not too many days later, the bluebonnets began to fade and drop their pedals for next year. They just weren’t as bright after that Easter Sunday. But that’s the way it is supposed to be. The day that makes all other days possible shown bright and fair, a day more lovely than the rest.

Easter Blessings, David