What do you do on the Saturday before Easter Sunday? A friend suggested to me that a good practice is to engage in quiet, contemplative activity. Baking bread is one way to quietly anticipate the feast of Easter to come. My family has dyed Easter eggs and made other food preparations for the dinner gathering that follows Sunday worship. A day of preparation is what this Saturday is for many.

When I was a child, the prominent memory was the sound of music. Since my father was the director of music in the Lutheran congregation of my youth, the organ and piano in our home were played often in anticipation of the great event in the church worship year. The Saturday before Easter will also be a day of remembrance this year because it falls on my father’s birthday. Even after 18 years some sadness still remains, but the gladness and hope that Easter proclaims brings the experience of a joy that continues to grow. Easter is a celebration that I anticipate more with each passing year.

A quiet day the Saturday before Easter Sunday is understandable. Jesus himself is said to have slept in the earth for a time after the horrible tragedy of Good Friday. At some point, however, the Holy Spirit awakened him so that the Easter message of God’s victory over death could be proclaimed even to Satan himself. What are the sounds, smells and activities that most clearly make Easter real and personal for you? I hope that we all can eventually see Jesus at the center of this celebration, and the people in our lives that Jesus died to save as reminders that Easter is meant to be personal for real people. There are many things that we can associate with this annual passage from winter to spring. The paschal mystery that proclaims that Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again remains the most important. Please join us for Easter worship at Prince of Peace this year. Your presence in the assembly makes a difference for good and increases the joy of Easter for us