The Season of Easter

The Meaning of Easter
The Easter season of the church year is the celebration of the risen Lord. Christ said, "Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days." (John 2:19) (John explains in verse 21, "But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said.")

So what does that mean for us today? Romans 6:4,5 tells us, "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection."

Therefore we rejoice in the new life that we have here and now and the promise of the resurrection and life eternal with our Lord. This is such good news that all of history hinges on the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the same way, the liturgical calendar of the church year hinges on the Easter celebration.

A Bit of History of Easter
In Edward T. Horn's The Christian Year, he states, "Easter Day is the oldest and, in a sense, the source of all the festivals of the Christian year. The earliest reference to any church season is to the period of fifty days begun with Easter and ended with Pentecost. Older than Advent and Lent, it was called Quinquagesima - the Holy Fifty Days, or the Great Fifty Days. The ancient name for Easter was Pascha which is derived from the Hebrew word meaning "passover." The title, Easter, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess, Eostre, whose festival occurred each year at the vernal equinox.

Easter Day is the "Queen of the Feasts" of the church year. Because our Lord rose from the dead on the first day of the week, every Sunday is an "Easter" and a commemoration of the resurrection. The meeting of Christians for worship on Sunday began in the early church because of the resurrection.

A Movable Holiday
Easter is a movable holiday, meaning that the date is calculated according to a formula and is not a set date. The entire church year with the exception of the six weeks from the First Sunday in Advent to the Epiphany, and the fixed date festivals, depends upon the date of Easter, which may occur between March 22 and April 25. It is usually said that Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. For those who are interested in more detail than that, the determination of the date is more complex.