Practice Resurrection_Eugene Peterson quote.PNG

The Easter season begins with a celebration of Christ's resurrection on Easter morning and lasts until the celebration of Pentecost seven weeks later -- a fifty-day period paralleling the 50 days Christ spent on earth after his resurrection. It is a time of celebration for the new life and salvation we find in Christ. During this season, the church is adorned in white symbolizing Christ's purity and our sanctification as believers, and is marked with feasting and celebration.

During Lent, we walk with Jesus toward the cross. During Easter, we walk with the first disciples away from the grave and toward the realization that death has had its last day and that the resurrection power of Jesus reigns.

Celebrate all 50 days!

One year, after attending Good Friday service together, my daughters and I talked honestly about how sometimes Eastertide can feel like a let-down. It seems to be easier to understand fasting better than feasting. We thought that might be, in part, because our world is generally obsessed with feasting, and whatever we try to do to mark Eastertide feels like the stuff we're normally trying to do every day anyway.

I wonder, too, if sometimes feasting shows more plainly how far away from God we still live. When I can be satisfied with just the right amount of wine or chocolate, that is feasting. When I can't stop either one, that turns into gluttony which is no longer true feasting. In some ways, fasting is easier, yes?

Put another way: feasting is a discipline, too. We take in the good with gratitude and contentment without making an idol of the gifts. This requires us to depend on the Creator as much (maybe more so) as any other spiritual exercise. This year the discipline may seem more difficult as we live into the truth of resurrection even as a global pandemic spreads its rumors of death.

For the next seven weeks - from now until Pentecost on May 23 - let’s curate bits of beauty and encouragement alongside regular Scripture reading and prayer to help us celebrate acts of resurrection in our every day, coming-out-of-isolation-slowly-but-surely lives. Participate as much as you’re able, but whatever you do, do it with gusto!

With fellow Sacramental Life Community members Brian Murphy and Amy Willers’ help, we created a guidebook for our church in 2020 that we’ve reprised for 2021 and I’m sharing with you, our Sacramental Life Community. We’ve intentionally curated each page of this guidebook to be usable by all ages. You could use the guidebook alone or with a group of friends or family members.

We hope you’ll share with all of us what you’ve enjoyed. Take a lot of photos! Send them to tamara@tamarahillmurphy.com or share your photos on social media with the hashtag: #practiceresurrection2021.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Tamara

tamara@tamarahillmurphy.com

@a_sacramental_life