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To Pastors and Worship Committees/Leaders,
The season of Easter celebrated by the early church (versus a more recent
tradition of celebrating only Easter Sunday) is returning to enliven
and energize the worship of the contemporary church! This season begins
on Easter
Sunday and continues for the next 50 days to Pentecost and the birth
of the church.
Many of you have already noticed that the church-wide worship resources
for Lent/Holy Week published in the Builder do not include Easter
Sunday. The
Easter Season resources, offered for the first time to Mennonite
congregations in the February Builder, offer a return to its original home
and a larger
understanding practiced by the early church. Why is it important
to reclaim this understanding for the Christian church, and what does it
offer to
the Anabaptist community? As you prepare to celebrate the Easter
Season in your
congregation, consider the following seven points:
-
The Season of Easter is a movement from and a movement toward. In
this season the church moves from Jesus’ death to life through Jesus’ resurrection.
Easter Sunday celebrates the tremendous power of God which raised
Christ from the dead, BUT. . . . .
-
The Season of Easter is the beginning point of the presence of the
resurrected Christ with us! Christ appears to growing numbers of
people as the season progresses, propelling the momentum of God’s
purpose and plan. Christ’s ascension paves the way for the powerful
coming of the Spirit at Pentecost to the church.
-
The colours of the Easter Season, white and gold, moving to red for
Pentecost, remind the church of the dazzling brightness of the sun
on Easter morning, the white robes of the Lamb and those around the
throne in Revelation.
Such energy and hope call forth new life, all of the colours, and
the “new
thing” among us! God’s uncontainable ‘bursting from the
tomb’ transforms death with a greater power, energy, and creativity
- released through Christ and the Spirit to the church!
-
During the Easter Season the church begins to feel the coming of a
wind stirring among us, propelling us forward to Pentecost and
a dancing flame –the
energizing presence of the Spirit.
-
This power and momentum propels the church outward, to engage the
world as Jesus did. Jesus is present in the Spirit to lead and
guide its way.
-
This energy moves the church from simply “remembering;” by
creating and recreating the actions of Holy Week as an historical
event which finishes Easter morning, to making a strong connection
which sees something
larger that pulses in it and through it. The pulse of God’s vision
continues to unfold with high drama as the church is brought to birth
at Pentecost and the story moves out to all places, all peoples,
and all times.
-
The Easter Season invites new vision, new dreams, creativity, and
new possibilities as God acts to do a ‘new thing,’ and the church
enters that activity.
I invite you to a ‘season of celebration and expectation’ as
the 40 days of Lent are now balanced by the 50 days of new life! God’s
desire is to energize and empower the church, as the church is given
the ministry of reconciliation of all things to Christ.
Where are new dreams emerging among us? What is the vision that God is
giving your congregation for life and ministry? How will you seek the
Spirit’s
leading during this time of God’s desire to energize the church? How
can all ages be involved in the celebration of this season? families?
We, as a church body, have only begun to imagine possibilities. As you
move through the scriptures and the lives of the ordinary people like
us whose lives were touched and transformed by an extra-ordinary Christ,
let
their story open us to transformation. And let the story transform our
worship, as we expect the movement of God’s Spirit, and wait for the Spirit’s
timing.
Blessings to you all in the coming seasons of Lent and Holy Week, and
yes, the Easter Season!
Yours in Christ,
Marilyn Houser Hamm, Director Worship & Spirituality,
Mennonite Church Canada Formation
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