My friend, Steve Kneale has written here about why you don’t need to celebrate Easter. His crucial point is that there is nothing in the Bible that requires us to celebrate any of the key festivals. We might add that it would be silly to be legalistic about Christmas and Easter, possibly in some places throwing in some kind of a Harvest Festival but missing Ascension Day and Pentecost. If we are going to go for the celebrations, lets go all in and in fact, that’s been my approach as a church leader.
I am not writing here to disagree with Steve’s basic premise but rather to follow up on the part of his article where he talks about why his church do celebrate Easter and perhaps to add a little query. Steve’s focus is on cultural expectations, that people who are not Christians may be surprised if we don’t celebrate and that Christians might expect it.
I want to note two things. First, that whilst Steve is right that there is nothing in the Bible and that there is nothing to support the suggestion that it was established as an annual event by the apostles[1] I think it is more than a narrow Catholic/Anglican cultural event with the celebration shared across all Christian traditions from what looks like early times. I don’t think there is compulsion based on this but perhaps there is something in sharing together with our brothers and sisters around the world. These events remind us that we are part of a bigger wider, older thing than just our local church. There’s something good in that and that for me is one of the reasons why I celebrate Easter.
Secondly, there’s a reason why I celebrate Easter that I’m not sure get’s captured fully in Steve’s article though it’s hinted at by his comment to the effect that
“Much like Christmas, if there is a load of cultural add-ons and bits to enjoy, why not?”
This links also to his article about not being gnostic about Christmas. I celebrate Christmas and Easter, I also happen to celebrate Pentecost and Harvest too because I enjoy them. I enjoy all the things that are maybe cultural trappings. For me, I associate Easter with Hot Cross buns and Easter Eggs like most of us. I love the sense of quiet sombre reflection on Good Friday. Since my early 20s, my experience has been of marking the day early with breakfast and communion (a practice at the church I was a member of then and continued through Bearwood and now introduced to Church Central North).[2] I love the old Easter hymns, Christ the Lord is risen today, He arose, Thine be the Glory and quite a few of the newer ones too. I appreciate the “He is risen indeed” refrain with all the additional alleluias.
Most of all, yes, I enjoy those special moments when we give particular attention to aspects of the Gospel. And that’s the crucial point. Because it’s not a command, we shouldn’t feel under compulsion to do it, even to meet cultural needs. Even if our choosing not to celebrate something confuses those of other faiths looking on, after all I’m happy to explain to a Muslim why I don’t spend the 40 days of Lent fasting. It might give opportunities for conversation too.
Rather, if we celebrate Easter, then the best reason for doing so is plain and simple. I remember talking to my old neighbour, another Steve once. He and his dad had kept a type of pigeon that seems unique to the Black Country called “Tumblers.” They were the Red Arrows of the pigeon club world. Instead of racing, they would fly in formation then suddenly drop in a swoop, rolling acrobatically. Steve asked me if I knew why they did it. I admitted that I didn’t, though I’d heard suggestions that it severed some purpose, perhaps playing dead to distract predators. Steve’s response was amazing.
“Dave, the experts have their theories but they don’t really know. I think it’s simple. They do it because they enjoy it.”
And that, friends, is a worthy enough reason in itself, especially for those of us who believe that our chief purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever. Celebrate Easter because you enjoy it and celebrate it how you will enjoy it.
[1] Indeed, we might go further and suggest that if anything, the evidence is that the early church’s practice was to mark the death and resurrection of Jesus weekly with the move from Saturday Sabbath to Sunday Lord’s Day. If Easter is anything then it is an enlargement of that one day event to a whole weekend event.
[2] I know that this will mark me out for Anglican and Catholic ire where for some reason they think that you shouldn’t have communion on the very day it marks. There again I find it jarring and tone altering to attempt a Holy Communion on Easter Sunday which seems to shift the focus away from Resurrection and back to the death. But that’s personal and cultural as Steve notes.
Faithroots 