(like the energizer bunny)

I was at my local Pharmacy to pick up a few pharmaceuticals that I cannot mention due to HIPPA.  On the way out, I saw the same thing I see every year around this time.  Center aisle.  Clear as day.  50% off.  Cheap, foil wrapped chocolate eggs.  Pastel colored M&M’s.  And, worst of all, those terrible Cadbury Creme Eggs, chock full of science’s best attempt at breakfast ornithology.  It’s an Easter clearance sale, and everything must go.  It’s time for the pre-pre Valentines sale.

Oh, I get it.  But it tells us something about the regular calendar vs. the church year calendar: they only align on special days.  Take, for example, Easter.  This year, Easter fell on April 8.  Next year, Easter will fall on March 31.  Just about every calendar will at least give honorable mention to this Christian holy day.  Christians will know it as Resurrection Sunday.  We all align on that specific day.  Your more conservative calendars will mention Good Friday, Ash Wednesday, and even Palm Sunday.  If they mention Maundy Thursday, you’ve most certainly picked up the Kirk Cameron 12 months of Growing Pains Reunion calendar.

What I’m trying to say is that regular calendars — the schedule that a majority of normal people run on — do not mention the season of Easter.  More than a single day, Easter is to be celebrated for a bunch of days that lead into Pentecost (May 29).  The Church has the latitude and design, according to the lectionary cycle, to celebrate Easter for weeks and weeks.  Why devote such time to a bunny?  Because we know it’s not a bunny; it’s the resurrection of Jesus, marking His victory over sin and death, and inviting us to die to ourselves and live for Him, in His victory.  It’s a pretty big deal!

So… Easter candy is half off.  It’s a good deal.  Don’t be surprised that stores are moving on.  You can’t really blame them for it.  But you, follower of Jesus, have reason to keep celebrating!  Christ is risen!  Keep the party going as we get ready for the Spirit to blow the doors off the place on Pentecost Sunday!

I’ll leave it said best by quoting theologian and worship guru Dr. Robert Webber:

The primary metaphor for the Easter season is the church as the resurrected people living a resurrected spirituality. Because of Easter we are in union with Christ and are called to live in our baptismal identity in his resurrection. This essential theme of Easter cannot be communicated in a day. It takes a season. . . . It is in worship that resurrection spirituality is learned and experienced. [1]

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[1] Robert E. Webber, Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004), 148-151.