Category Archives: Easter

Lent vs Resurrection Day

8 Replies

tombSorry, no clever April Fool’s post this year. If you can’t find anything else, Google always has some interesting offerings.

I did want to comment on one of the articles in today’s “Links To Go.” The ever-insightful N.T. Wright asks why we emphasize Lent over Resurrection Day, why suffering seems to find a better place in our churches than celebration does.

It’s a good question. To my mind, the Bible emphasizes Christians celebrating what Christ has done much more than it does “afflicting our souls” (to use the Old Testament term).

I would add that our celebration often picks up much from the secular celebrations of Spring. It’s easier to celebrate Easter than it is to celebrate the Resurrection.

What do you think? Are we too much into fasting and not enough into feasting?

photo courtesy of CreationSwap.com

Even though Easter is now cool…

15 Replies

1166751_43065683…I’m still not into following the “church calendar.” I’m not into Lent, Easter, Christmas, etc. as religious celebrations. Not that I’m dogmatic about it. I don’t mind if people want to spend some extra time thinking about Jesus this week; I’m always for that. I just don’t see it fitting into the way things were set up in the New Testament.

God knows how to tell his people to celebrate something, when to to do it, and how to do it. If you don’t believe me, read Leviticus 23, for example. Or any of the other chapters that talk about religious feasts. I don’t see anything remotely similar in the New Testament. Not a verse, let alone a complete chapter. “But doesn’t Romans 14 say we can observe special days?” Sure, can being the operative word. We can abstain from eating meat, too, but somehow that one hasn’t been nearly as popular. (Except at Lent, but that gets back to the special days)

To me, we have to find the happy medium between walking around condemning everyone around us and trying to imitate everyone around us. I think the traditional church of Christ statement that “We celebrate Easter every Sunday” is true. Unfortunately, some people are only able to “get into it” once a year. That might be something we need to work on.

Hope you enjoy your Easter weekend. I’ve actually got today off, when I was supposed to be working. (Weather cancelled my trip to Nashville) I hope that you find something this weekend that brings you closer to God.

And I hope the same for next weekend, too.

{Photo by Ryan Smart, sxc.hu}