Dating Easter

A few weeks ago, we had a “super moon”. It was bright and beautiful. On Sunday, March 20 I saw that moon as we drove to church early while it was still dark. Such a gorgeous moon on the first day of spring. It flashed through my mind mid afternoon as I pondered that moon, no wonder Easter is so late, the moon was full LAST night, so now we wait.

For those who do not know, the formula for the date of Easter goes back to the early church. Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon following the northern hempishere's vernal equinox. TRANSLATION, Easter is always the first Sunday after the first full moon after spring (which is usually March 21.) So Easter is dated anywhere from March 22 through April 25. This year is almost as late as Easter can be since it is April 24.

Now, the dating of Easter is slightly different for the Orthodox Church. Their calendar did not change in the Middle Ages when the Western world changed their calendar to the Gregorian calendar.. So for the Orthodox church Easter lands between April 4 and May 8 each year and always coincides with the Jewish Passover. The Western church’s Easter sometimes is a month earlier than Passover.

Last year, in 2010 and this year in 2011 both the western church and the eastern church share Easter dates. Having Easter fall on the same date two years in a row for both churches is quite unusual. It will not occur again until Easter 2037 and Easter 2038.

I share this information because I am often asked why the date of Easter moves each year. When studying the gospels the one thing that is clear is that the crucifixion occurred around the festival of the Passover. Regardless of the date, Easter is pivotal in the life of the church. Easter is the promise of new life and hope in a world that is often filled with despair and death.

No matter the date, it is a joy for all Christians to celebrate Easter together. Our experience of resurrection is what helps us be the body of Christ in the world. I invite to immerse yourself in all our or another congregaton's Holy Week activities, that in sharing those finals days with Jesus we might experience Life and Life Abundant.

I am as always, Graced to Serve

Sermon: 04-04-2010

Sermon - Living As If It Matters (Easter Sunday)
By Pastor Cindy Watson

Ready for Spring

The last two days have been a welcome relief from this long winter we have been having. Stan Finger in the Wichita Eagle, blogged last week that this is a historical winter. Since recording temperatures in Wichita it the last 1880's, there are never been a winter where we have not hit sixty degrees. As of today, we still have not gotten there yet.

Part of what has made this winter so long for me has been the unrelenting fog and grayness. I do not really mind the cold, but I need, I crave sunlight. While I enjoy the fog for its mystery, the day in and day out fogginess and remaining grayness truly began to wear on my soul.

Today, however, I had an opportunity to work with my husband on the outside of the house. There were a few spots that need some scraping and some touch up paint. While waiting for the primer to dry, I made a cup of tea and sat on the deck with my face toward the sun. I have not sat outside in the sun since last November. I walked out to the garden and noted that the chives are beginning to poke up through the brown grass. In the front, the tulips are beginning to send up some leaves. The days are getting longer. While it is still chilly, the warmth is beginning to creep back.

In the Christian tradition we are in the season of Lent. For western Christians it is a forty day period (not including Sundays) that leads up to Easter. Often words are used to describe this season as "long, dark, penitential, sober, somber" a time of penance and fasting. The final days of Lent are focused on Jesus' last hours before his crucifixion.

What is interesting about this convergence of weather change and liturgical season is the meaning of the word Lent. Lent means "spring". That's it. No huge deep philosophical or theological meaning. Spring, lent means spring.

In some ways the season of lent has been difficult for me. I have not problem focusing on the "evil" in the world. It takes very little time to find examples of our inhumanity to one another, or injustice at work. However, as the days get longer and warmer and the green erupts from the ground, it becomes harder for me to be somber. I want to be outside, enjoying the sun and the energy and the new life. Focusing on grayness, on penance and on fasting when the bounty of spring is erupting is almost beyond what I am capable of.

Perhaps, Lent is a preparation for the joy that spring brings. Maybe, if I was willing to really do the hard work of penance, of weeding and cleaning out the weeds and the clutter in the garden of my soul, it would be ready for the sunlight, the love and the life offered through the Easter experience.

So I will try and hold my heart and soul in patience as I walk these lean days of Lent. I will focus on ridding myself of whatever is not helpful or hopeful. Then, when Easter comes, my heart and my spirit will be ready to burst forth in new life and energy.

I remain Graced to Serve.