Happy Eastertide
Our cool-factor here at SBCA has been notched up tenfold the past month. Why you may ask? Great question! It's because C&MA missionaries to Ukraine reside in Chula Vista when they’re not on the field or on tour. And while we're deeply saddened for the reason, we're happy to have them with us right now before they head back.
To spread awareness about how people can pray and support efforts to help refugees and Ukrainian churches, my colleague Elizabeth Batchman hosted a Ukrainian Pysanky Egg DIY Workshop. She made colorful waxes, bought a fancy-schmancy kit, bought candles (fire is involved in this process!), and bought a tool to suck egg innards out of their shells.
As I was creating all the social media posts to promote the event, I learned that the hollow egg represents the empty tomb. Huh, I guess you really do learn something new everyday. I'm not sure how it’s taken this long for me to learn that information, but there you are.
You know what was also a delayed learning experience for me? I first learned the word 'Eastertide' last year. I was reading an article on The Rabbit Room and it was about Eastertide, the season after Easter but before Pentecost.
I’m a huge fan of The Rabbit Room and commend their site to you. I regularly listen to The Rabbit Room's The Habit Podcast, a podcast that facilitates conversations with writers about writing. It includes musicians too, since you know, they also write stuff. The Habit Podcast's "Sad Stories Told For Laughs" episodes are so funny I'm pretty sure I've cried.
Anywho, The Habit Podcast's episode that released on April 11 was with author Mitali Perkins describing her recent children's book, "Bare Tree and Little Wind: A Story for Holy Week." I was sold and bought a copy right away. Thank you two day shipping. (Sorry local mom-and-pop bookstores.)
The artwork is just as beautiful as described. Upon receiving the book though, I was unsure how I would end up feeling about it. Where do we draw the line between cultivating imagination and mixing in other beliefs that seem akin to animism? Silas' brain is so elastic right now, and I don't want to cause confusion as we teach him about Christ.
Well, I read it, and the personified winds and the personified trees all give glory to Jesus. I ended up loving it. Silas has been calling it his palm tree book.
As Mitali Perkins describes in the podcast, she learned that in certain church traditions, Holy Week doesn't end on Easter Sunday but on Easter Monday. Easter Monday is set apart to remember that we live in the time-between-the-times, as we wait for Christ's return when He will renew all things. Most of "Bare Tree and Little Wind" is about what comes after Christ's resurrection, including the destruction of the Jerusalem temple. It's about anticipating Christ's second coming, and spreading seeds as we wait and prepare for the King.
So whether you cherish Monday as the end of Holy Week, or you jump right into Eastertide, the important thing is to remember that Christ's interaction with humanity did not finish on Resurrection Sunday. He is alive and He hears us today and He’s coming back to restore all things. As Andrew Peterson put it,
“But it’s not over. Then, you see, it’s Easter Monday. It’s just beginning. Now we get a glimpse of the New Creation, because now we discover the ‘now what?’ We go back to work, life resumes its usual routine, yes, but with the massive difference that now we live in that Great Day of the Lord for fifty days, a fitting foretaste of what’s coming to us after Christ’s return.”
- Andrew Peterson, Easter Is Just Getting Started
Hope does not disappoint. Yesteday was Easter and we celebrated. Today is Easter Monday, and we keep on celebrating.
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we celebrate in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
Romans 5:1–6
But wait, there’s more! In addition to the thrill of spiritual hope we have as we await Christ's return, there's a thrill of hope and anticipation in the air here at SBCA as we're gearing up for some exciting things this summer (Lord willing.) We're stoked. Stay tuned.
Happy Eastertide.
