Easter has a way of emerging long before we reach the empty tomb. One example of the surprising Easter experience took place this past Christmas. It happened that my wife, Lisa, had lovingly slipped a small wooden icon into my traditional Christmas stocking. It was a gift that I didn’t discover right away because in the bustle of the day I had forgotten to check my stocking for any seasonal surprises. Lisa eventually brought it to me and said, “It’s an icon of the Transfiguration.” When I held it in my hands and looked more closely, however, I realized it was actually an icon of the Resurrection, the event our siblings in the Greek Orthodox Church call the “Anastasis.” Even in the glow of Christmas lights, Easter was already making its quiet entrance, reminding me that the mystery of Christ’s rising is always breaking into our days, often before we notice. That theme has stayed with me that Easter is always ahead of us, shaping our future, steadying our hope and transforming our present in ways both visible and hidden.
Some of my favorite ways of waiting for Easter are the timeless, basic ones. For example, I have a friend who spends the day before Easter Sunday baking bread. I love the idea of this practice and hope to do it myself one year. I imagine that as the dough rises and the scent fills the house, it becomes a kind of lived prayer with an aroma of anticipation providing a warm reminder that something joyful is coming. Bread baking can be a humble practice, but it is one that encourages a waiting with expectation and hope. We learn in extended ways to trust that God is always working for good in ways we cannot always see, but that other senses assure us is true.
Of all the ways to prepare, anticipate and experience the dawn of Easter, nothing prepares my heart quite like the Easter Vigil. In the glow of candlelight, we listen to the great sweep of God’s saving story through a creation born from chaos, a deliverance through deep waters, dry bones rising and promises renewed. Each of these sacred readings whisper the unifying truth that our God rescues, restores, heals and brings life from death. By the time we reach the proclamation of the resurrection, it feels as though love itself has burst into the world in an uncontained and unstoppable manner. When Jesus steps from the tomb, it is truly an experience of love on the loose in human form. It is the assurance that love is still spreading, surprising and transforming us with the promise that resurrection is not only Christ’s story, but ours as well. I hope that you can celebrate the deep meaning of Easter in a way that brings you the joy of Jesus in your heart. Easter is a season of 50 days, but it is also a reality that impacts all the seasons of the year, and all the time to come beyond our chronological years. May the truth of what God has done in resurrecting Jesus bring renewed meaning and purpose to all that we say and do.