And yet Easter...

This week our Creative Team met to talk about programming for Easter. As I was driving home I got to thinking. Why does Christmas get the phrase, “season of miracles,” yet it is at Easter we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead? I even went so far as to ask, which is the greatest miracle? God’s son being born to a virgin or God’s son dying on the cross for my sins? You can’t have one without the other so they’re both pretty doggone powerful miracles. Which leads me to think that you can’t call Christmas a season of miracles without giving the same recognition to Easter!

But, it’s Christmas that gets the most attention, the celebrations starting right after Halloween or Thanksgiving. Christmas music fills our homes, our cars, our stores for weeks and months. Hallmark, Lifetime and other streaming services offer a gazillion Christmas movies. We decorate our homes, our offices, our churches, both inside and out. We plan and attend all the Christmas parties and spend time researching and purchasing just the right gifts. All to rightfully celebrate the birth of Jesus.

And yet Easter gets one day.

Even Good Friday gets more attention than Easter with Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday. And yet it’s Easter that is the cornerstone of our faith. Jesus went through a horrendous ordeal, getting flogged with a whip of nails, a crown of thorns forced upon his head, a sword piercing his side and nails pounded into his hands and feet. For the sole purpose of taking all our sins - past, present and future - to the cross, to his death, leading to the empty grave - so that we can live a life that’s incredibly full with the promise of never having to die.

And yet Easter gets one day.

But maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m the one who has reduced this monumental life-changing event to just a day. And if that’s the case, then I need to turn this around right here and now. I need - no, make that WANT - to mark this moment in my Christian calendar and in my life as more than just a day. I want to give it all that it deserves. I want to treat Easter even better than Christmas.

So, I’m going to put lights on my deck, starting after Valentine's Day. I’m going to fill my home and my office with Easter decor. I’m going to create playlists filled with songs that include classic Easter hymns, Judy Garland singing the Easter parade, worship celebrating His resurrection, and songs of love (think Michael Buble, Whitney Houston, Nat King Cole). And I’m going to play them nonstop in my home, my car and in my ears. I’m going to find an Ugly Easter sweater. And I’m going to think about how I can reflect God’s incredible love for me onto others; how I can demonstrate my love to my family and friends as God has demonstrated his love for me.

Easter deserves months of recognition and celebration. It deserves parties and new albums, Easter rom com movies, and gifts of love. It deserves to be given the status of “Season of Miracles.” Because the miracle of his death and resurrection brought about the miracle of a changed life in me.

So Easter, I’m upgrading you from a day to a season. Let the celebrations begin!