Eastertide #2:

For forty days Jesus presented himself alive.

(Acts 1:3)

The Christian Calendar gives us fifty days to ponder what happened. You can’t just celebrate Easter Sunday and move on to the next thing. Whatever is next has to do with Easter and whatever was before finds its destiny in Easter. That The Crucified rose again from the dead changes everything. What happened? What does it mean? We’ll need all fifty days, from Easter to Pentecost, just to ponder. Plus, a lifetime; plus, Eternity to contemplate “That Thou my God shouldst die for me” (hymn, “And Can it Be” by Charles Wesley 1738).

For starters, it changes our week. Sunday will never be the same. The last day of the week—Sabbath Day, is a day of rest to honor the old creation “longing to be set free”; the first day of week—Sunday, now becomes the day we celebrate the beginning of the new creation “set free from bondage and decay” (Ro 8:18-25). Every Sunday becomes a little Easter when the church gathers to sing its praises and to hear again the Gospel of our salvation. The first day of the week  has now become “The Lord’s Day” (Rv 1:10).