Stretching Out Easter

No, no, no, no. Don't do that. Don't let Easter slip away. You're already doing it. Stop.

We have to remember.

Can it be Easter every Sunday, please? Such great victory remembered, such great promises recalled, such great hope renewed. Friday is a day of death and mourning, Saturday a day of longing and struggling to remember promises...then Sunday breaks on a new era of triumph and hope. Jesus Christ wins, and we with him. We get our jampacked Easter service with a full band and ham slices afterwards, and it helps drive home the extraordinary truths driving this day. Our spirits are lifted out of the grind. I don't want to forget all that.

Then Monday comes and it threatens to slip away.

We roll out of bed, we grope for our coffee (I pride myself on my independence from coffee, but it's not like I feel any better for it), we stagger out the door on the way to our jobs, and our inner Garfield is already groaning. The grind is already trying to reassert itself. Heck, the candy-and-rabbits stuff is easier to remember because there's physical reminders of it lying all over the counter.

The good news can easily wind up on the back burner as we revert to "normal".

Think I exaggerate? It's said that the Sunday after Easter is the year's most thinly attended church service.

That's the funny thing about a holiday...we pick one day to celebrate something that should be celebrated for all three hundred sixty-five. And Easter is the greatest holiday. It tells of the hope that can get us through any day.

I want to see how long I can stretch out this Easter. I don't want this passion weekend to be one mountaintop experience that stands out amongst a bunch of mediocre months.

Jesus seems to want more than that for us. Even after news of his resurrection was out, he had to go after the disciples and practically pull them out of the fishing boats to which they'd returned. The grind had tried to reassert itself.

Jesus didn't want Monday to crowd out Sunday. And he's not talking about forcing ourselves to sustain high emotion. He's simply talking about remembering the truths that can sustain us.

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." - 1 Peter 3:15

We've also got Scriptures lying around, waiting to be studied and recalled, far longer-lasting than all those leftover malt eggs. Streteching out Easter is that simple. These truths are meant to be our constant companion every day, our source of hope, the things that get us out of bed. They're not just reserved for Easter Sunday. They're literally our daily bread.

I refuse to let Monday make me forget Sunday.