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This piece, Scott Gunn, Forward Movement’s Executive Director, is from Forward Today, Forward Movement’s email newsletter – you can sign up here.
I wish you all a very blessed and joyous Easter! I am still basking in the glow of my pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where I celebrated Holy Week and Easter with Ethiopians, Greeks, Armenians, Russians, and Anglicans. You can see photos from my pilgrimage on my flickr page. It was inspiring to walk through Holy Week in the places Jesus and his disciples inhabited.
One thing that struck me is the exuberant way people shouted the Easter Greeting. “Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!” That’s Greek. Anglicans of course shouted, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” These shouts came in sets of three and they were repeated many times throughout liturgies. These were not the subdued liturgical speech that I’ve come to expect among my fellow Episcopalians. Rather, people shouted with reckless abandon, befitting the absolute triumph over death, fear, sin, and destruction that Christ’s Resurrection represents.
I wonder what our lives would be like if we celebrated the fullness of Easter for the fullness of the entire Easter season. Our church has set side 50 days for Easter. You might follow along on a wonderful website, 50 Days of Fabulous (www.50days.org). Or maybe you’ll take on an “Easter discipline.” Read a book, maybe one of Forward Movement’s 50 Day Bible Challenge readings of the gospels. My favorite habit to suggest is one that comes from some of our Orthodox friends. During the entire season, instead of greeting people with a hello or a good morning, they greet everyone with “Christ is risen!”
However you choose to celebrate Easter, I do hope you’ll make the joy and the transformation last longer than a day or a week. Easter isn’t just one day with full churches, extravagant music, and beautiful flowers. When we celebrate Easter, we are celebrating God’s absolute victory over death and our captivity to sin. Easter means that there is always hope, and that is good news, indeed.