EASTER 2024

 

As you probably recall, I am really “into” Christmas with my beautiful collection of Nativity sets which I display every other year and invite friends and neighbors to share with me that “One Wonderful Night” Christ was born.

But over the last few years, I have thought a lot about my anemic celebration of Easter.  Especially after Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke about this holiest of all holidays in his April 2023 General Conference address.  He said, “Easter Sunday is a celebration of the most important event to ever happen on this earth.”

Then he said, “How do we model the teaching and celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Easter story, with the same balance, fulness, and rich religious tradition of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Christmas story?”

I realized that I wasn’t really celebrating it at all. 

I come from pioneer stock on both sides of my family.  We were people that were active in all aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ from church attendance to missionary service to committed involvement with our local Church unit.  We regularly talked of the Savior’s life, death, and resurrection and recognized the importance of His Atonement in our own lives.  But it was mostly only on Easter weekend that we drew attention to the events surrounding those last days of Christ’s life.  Though my friends from other faith traditions talked about Palm Sunday and the stations of the cross among other things, I always got the impression those were Catholic or Protestant traditions which obscured the import of the true meaning of Easter:  that because Christ died and was resurrected all of us will live again. 

But ALL of the Easter story is important!  We wouldn’t dream of leaving out the part in the Christmas story about Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem to be taxed or that the city was so crowded there was no room for them except in a stable or that after Jesus was born, choirs of angels sang and directed the shepherds to the manger or that the Wise Men arrived bringing gifts.  All of that was significant to the birth of Christ.  So then is each day of what we now refer to as Holy Week important to our Easter celebration.

So, I have decided to make my commemoration this year a Christ-Centered Easter, and I invite you to join me this next week to take steps to celebrate Christ in ways that we never thought of before which might include special concerts, artwork of the Savior, Easter-themed literature and focused reading in the New Testament AND the Book of Mormon which will provide a profound confirmation of the reality that Jesus Christ did indeed rise on the third day—that we may all live again!

Easter is our greatest festival!  Let us celebrate it in creative new ways that will give us a renewed enthusiasm for all the blessings Jesus Christ’s life, Atonement, death, and Resurrection have brought to each one of us. 

 

Here are just a few ideas: 

·         Acknowledge each day of Holy Week

·     Write down what is possible in your life because of Jesus Christ 
 
·      Ponder how you personally connect to Jesus Read the first 17 verses         of I Nephi chapter 11 and reflect on this witness that Christ still lives

·      Go to an Easter concert or oratorio

 

With love and a sincere wish that your Easter celebration this year will be as important as your Christmas celebration was in December.  I am definitely going to balance the fullness and tradition of THIS story with my recent celebration of Christ’s birth.  I hope you will, too…