Forty days of Lent is drawing to a close; we are walking through Holy Week and are about to arrive at the biggest celebration of the Church Year, Easter Sunday! But Easter isn't just one lone day at the end of weeks of fasting, prayer, and reflection. Easter Sunday kicks off the season of Easter, which lasts 50 days until Pentecost Sunday.
In the cycle of the Church Year, seasons of fasting are followed by seasons of feasting. So how can we press into a season of feasting and celebrating our Savior's resurrection for the next 50 days? Here are several ideas; hopefully you can find a couple that will work for you and your family this year!
Easter Sunday
It's a celebration, so let's party! A party looks different depending on the person, house and family you come from, but a party usually incorporates the five senses. There might be music, some fun activities, almost always good food, and maybe even some decorations. Think about how you want to celebrate Christ's resurrection tomorrow; maybe it's a playlist of Easter worship and hymns that you put on first thing in the morning, or your grandma's famous coffee cake for breakfast. It might be a special meal for dinner, or a banner that says "He is Risen!" You might want to fill your house with Easter lilies, yellow daffodils and pink tulips. Of all the days to go all out on a celebration, Resurrection Sunday is the day!
Even though we will be in our homes for worship services this year, we can still continue the sense of celebration by dressing up in our Easter best. If you have something white, you might want to wear it to remind yourself of your baptism and the new life we have in Christ!
The Week Following Easter
We can keep following Jesus' footsteps even beyond Holy Week. Here are two recommendations for you to try sometime during the week after Easter Sunday:
1. Fish for Breakfast
Read the beautiful story in John 21, where Jesus appears to the disciples and makes them fish and bread for breakfast. Yes, the resurrected Christ cooks breakfast for a bunch of fishermen! After you read this passage, go ahead and eat some fish for breakfast! Baked white fish with eggs and toast could be a place to start, but if you have a fire pit, wrap some fish in foil and make it really authentic. Or if fish for breakfast just isn't your thing, try going fishing after reading this passage.
2. Take an "Emmaus Walk"
Read Luke 24:13-35, and then take a walk with a neighbor, friend or your family and discuss a topic from Scripture, or talk about what it would have been like to be these followers of Jesus having this conversation on the road.
The Season of Easter
Here are some ideas for keeping the joy and celebration of the resurrection before us in the 50 days of Eastertide:
1. Listen to Easter music.
Use a playlist like this one or pick a different Easter hymn/song to learn each week during this season. You could sing this song every morning after breakfast or each night after dinner.
2. Keep your Easter decor up until Pentecost.
If you have a cross you could drape it with a white cloth, or maybe you want to make or purchase a special sign or banner that says," He Lives!" or "He is Risen!" to keep out during the season of Easter.
3. Party every week!
Pick a certain day of the week and plan a party on that day every week of Eastertide! It doesn't have to be complicated-you could have a Blue Bell ice cream party, a water balloon party, an Easter music jam session (if you're the musical type!), a game of hide and seek (read John 20:19 and talk about how the disciples went into hiding after Jesus' crucifixion), or a movie night (Maybe something like Ben Hur (1959) or Jesus of Nazareth (1977), or another family favorite. Be sure to preview before showing to your kids!).
4. Make or buy a special candle to remind you of the resurrection, and light it at breakfast or dinner each day during the season of Easter. Try this DIY idea.
5. Join Natalie every Monday of Eastertide for an Easter themed children's book read aloud on our YouTube channel: