Resurrection

I am SO glad Lent is over. It's my least favorite 40 days on the Church calendar.

I'm relatively new to Lenten observance, having spent most of my life in churches that did not make a big deal of it. But that last few years I've given it a try. I don't so much mind abstaining from something (although I have only been successful one full Lent in fasting from the chosen item). And I really enjoy Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday.

But what I don't personally handle well is the aspect of trying to remember life without Christ. Crosses are covered, communion is curtailed. It feels very dark to me, and I get a little depressed every year. I realize the value of commemorating death and sacrifice in order to fully value the Resurrection, but it seems a little much.

What I really like, of course, is celebrating the Resurrection. Easter has always been an important celebration for my family, usually involving family gatherings and Easter eggs and, always, church.

This year Eric and I planned a trip over Easter because he had a four day weekend and it was right before his birthday. We had a great time, but it hit me as we were driving that this would be one of the few Easters I spent away from my family, and I'm almost positive it would be the first year ever I did not attend church. It felt strange a somehow a little lonely at first.

So, to observe Resurrection Sunday, we bought a small bottle of grape juice and tore a hunk of bread off some store-bought rolls. Sunday morning we hiked up to the top of Enchanted Rock, then down through the park to a pond called Moss Lake. We sat under a tree and prepared our communion. He read John's account of Christ's Resurrection and we served each other.



"This is the body of Christ, broken for you."

"This is the blood of Christ, shed for you."

We were interrupted shortly thereafter by a woman trying to keep her dog away from us. And that was it. Our Easter Sunday. It was simple and memorable and there wasn't much to it. But I felt lighter the whole day, enjoying God's creativity in the form of a granite mountain, marveling at the plants that grow through rocks, inhaling the sunlight, and forging trails where they didn't exist.

Because Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed.