Pangandaran, April XXIV, ‘11
Ideas on EASTER one week After
“Take away Christmas, you lose a few verses from the beginning of the Gospels. Take away Easter and you lose the entire New Testament." -N.T. Wright. There is creation: the birthday of the world. There is re-creation: the 'rebirthday’ of the world. As Christians, if there is one day to celebrate–one day that the other days hang on, one day that stands out, this is that one day. It’s not a joke to say it’s the biggest day in history, since history. This is the reason angels made announcements, babies jumped in the womb, the mute spoke, men sang in prison: good news–new news.
What do we usually do? Take a nap after a special service? What do I do? "When is East? Oh, next week?" We don’t need to ask that question (as Americans) about Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Christmas, Halloween. For other holidays we usually know the countdown, whereas Easter seems to be an after-thought, or a marginal celebration, something or other in between… (Which is not even celebrated with Christian stories or symbols: chocolate bunnies?) The import of Christmas is entirely subordinate to the good news of the accomplishment of the resurrection. If not for that, then Christmas is the great might have been.
"Champagne, trumpets, parades…” -N. T. Wright, again. Asher and I have talked about new ways of DISCIPLINING ourselves to prepare, to anticipate, to celebrate, and to appreciate Easter–to realize it in liturgy, in community, in celebration, in action and in the symbols of the power and freedom meant for us, which all flow downstream to us from that day. We discussed:
- LENT, of course.
- Selecting a large piece of MUSIC to work on for the entire year to perform on Easter.
- Putting away some small % of MONEY through the entire year for both service (see #5, etc.) and celebration (#11).
- Personal or communal RENOVATION projects: renovation? refurbishing? remodeling? refinishing? It could be cars, property, musical instruments, bicycles, antique furniture, leather shoes, old guns… All to be made use of in some way during the celebration.
- Social projects: can we GIVE someone a new future by paying for someone’s education? paying off someone’s debts? taking a kid out of an orphanage? paying for a surgery?
- PLANT trees that will produce or bloom over Easter? What species?
- Build a new WELL in a village?
- Make our own WINE for the celebration?
- CREATIVE PROJECTS like music, mosaics, carvings–all resonating with these themes of return from exile, and liberation?
- Cleaning projects for parts of the city–recycling or picking up GARBAGE?
- CELEBRATION considerations like: coordinated FIREWORKS from strategic places around the city, while a PARADES CONVERGE at the city center with a A DRUM CORE making noise at SUNRISE, while releasing BIRDS, and finishing off with a LAMB feast after around the TREE that blooms on Easter? And popping some of the homemade bubbly? Everyone except the naysayers are invited?
But the point is first to share this idea–rather, to share the inspiration at the root of the idea, then to group around it, then to start planning among whoever is “in”. Then it begins.