Today, many of us gather together to celebrate Easter Sunday. As we celebrate Easter together as a family, some of us might have been dragged to church today. Well, some of you might feel that way every Sunday! Some of you look forward to Easter Sunday every year! New outfits, Easter baskets full of candy, Easter Egg Hunts, and yummy food with family. But have you ever stopped to wonder why we celebrate Easter and why we celebrate it when we do? And have candy, egg hunts, dye eggs, or get new outfits? Well, this year, as I continue to look at ways to make life more simple, with less stuff, and healthier, I decided to really get a full understanding of the meaning of the Easter celebration and how Easter has taken over the power of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here are some Easter Facts:

1. (HOW COME EASTER SUNDAY IS ALWAYS CHANGING?)

a. Easter Sunday is always changing. Originally, Christ?s resurrection was celebrated on the first Sunday after the Jewish Passover. Sometimes that still happens, but that is not how the date is chosen. In 325AD the first major church council, the Council of Nicaea, determined that Easter should fall on the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. That is why the date moves around and why Easter festivities are often referred to as ?moveable feasts.? Easter will always fall between March 25 and April 25 and that?s determined by the movement of the planets and the Sun.

2. (WHAT DOES THE WORD EASTER MEAN?)

a. The word Easter comes from the pagan figure/goddess Eostre, who was the goddess of spring. She is the goddess of the East, from where the sun rises. From the writings of the Venerable Bede, an 8th century monk and historian, we have the single understanding of the word Easter. Bede wrote that the month in which English Christians were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus has been called Eosturmonath in Old English, referring to a goddess named Eostre. And even though Christians had begun affirming the Christian meaning of the celebration, they continued to use the name of the goddess to designate the season. In addition, Germans decided to add in the goddess into their celebrations as well based on what was happening in England. In Germany, the festival is called Ostern and the goddess is called Ostara. Bede was so influential for later Christians that the name stuck, and hence Easter remains the name by which the English, Germans, and Americans refer to the festival of Jesus? resurrection.

b. Maybe some of you have heard the word ?Paschal?? In Europe, the name for Easter is derived from the Jewish festival of Passover. In Greece, the feast is called Pascha, in Italy, Pasqua, in Danish speaking countries, it is Paaske, and France it is Paques. All coming from the Jewish festival of Passover.

3. (HOW COME WE?typically?GET NEW CLOTHES FOR EASTER?)

a. I will tell you, I always got a new dress for Easter and uncomfortable shoes. Emma gets a new dress and bathing suit for Easter. Figuring out what to wear on

Easter Sunday and how big the hat should be is all part of the Easter Sunday event!

b. This tradition dates back to the mid-1800s when there was an Easter Parade in New York City. The Easter Parade started when the upper crust of society would attend Easter services at various Fifth Avenue churches then stroll outside afterward, showing off their new spring outfits and hats. Then average people started showing up along Fifth Avenue to check out the action! If anyone has seen the 1948 film ?Easter Parade? starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, the title song had these words in it ?in your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, You?ll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade.? This one made me laugh.

4. (WHAT ABOUT DECORATING EGGS, CANDY, BUNNIES, AND EGG HUNTS?)

a. Decorating eggs for Easter is a tradition that dates back to at least the 13th century. One explanation for this custom is that eggs were formerly a forbidden food during the Lenten season, so people would paint and decorate them to mark the end of the period of penance and fasting, then eat them on Easter as a celebration. In a number of Eastern European countries, the process of decorating eggs is extremely elaborate. Legends describe eggs turning red (a favorite color for Easter eggs) in connection with the events surrounding Jesus?s death and resurrection. That is why we had red hard boiled eggs at breakfast this morning.

b. Candy-Started with the chocolate egg and eggs are a symbol of new life and Jesus?s resurrection. Another egg-shaped candy, the jelly bean, became associated with Easter in the 1930s.

c. Bunnies, rabbits, and hares are also associated with fertility and new life, and were symbols linked to the goddess Eostre. It was in the 17th century that a German tradition of an ?Easter hare? bringing eggs to good children came to be known. When the Germans settled in Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, they brought this tradition with them. The wild hare also became supplanted by the more docile and domestic rabbit and moved the focus more towards children.

d. And lastly, with Easter Eggs, Candy, and Plastic Eggs, why not hunt for the eggs? Open them up? And see what is inside? And we have fun connecting the egg with the empty tomb. We make it all sound Christian.

5. (SO WHY DO WE CELEBRATE EASTER IF EVERYTHING IS ROOTED IN THE PAGAN TRADITIONS AND COMMERCIALIZATION?)

First, the reason we celebrate Easter is because we believe in a Resurrected Jesus. Whether we call it Easter or Resurrection Sunday, what is more important is the reason for our celebration. These words from Romans 6:4 sum it up pretty well. ?Therefore, we were buried together with him through baptism into his death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too can walk in newness of life.? In this, it is really important to keep the focus on the resurrection, not on all the other stuff. All the other stuff is fun, but as Christians, this stuff should always connect our stories back to Jesus and the importance of being a community of people seeking to know and understand Jesus more.

Second, with all of this information, it got me thinking about the importance of the Resurrection. Typically, I don?t enjoy writing an Easter sermon. Here is the honest reason. It is the same story every year with many people who only hear that same story every year. Personally, I get tired of the same old story. I wonder if you do too. The other problem I have with the same story every year is I don?t see Christian people living their lives much differently than people who have never heard the story of the resurrection. Harsh. And I think there are times I include myself in that description. I think all of us can, unfortunately, find ourselves in that place at various times in our lives. And this is where Christians and Christianity has failed. We forget to acknowledge we are human, we mess up, and try to put off this air that we have it all together. Friends, we don?t. And we need to stop acting like we do and start showing people how to depend on their faith, no matter how small it is, and start living as if we believe through the resurrection that we are a new creation in Christ Jesus.

Listen to these words from 2 Corinthians 5:11-21- Ministry of reconciliation

?11 So we try to persuade people, since we know what it means to fear the Lord.

(that fearing God is good because it saves us from caving into our own sinful nature. Fear is a form of worship and reverence to the God who says all things are possible.)

We are well known by God, and I hope that in your heart we are well known by you as well. 12 We aren?t trying to commend ourselves to you again. Instead, we are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us so that you could answer those who take pride in superficial appearance, and not in what is in the heart.

(being known by God is so crucial to our faith. Being known is what of the greatest gifts.)

13 If we are crazy, it?s for God?s sake. If we are rational, it?s for your sake. (Isn?t that great! (We act crazy for God?meaning we are sharing our joy, hope, and love in ways that bring God so much joy that people might think we are crazy! And when we act relational and normal, it is just for people. What if your joy, hope, and love constantly was coming from you, even when things were hard?)

14 The love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: one died for the sake of all; therefore, all died.15 He died for the sake of all so that those who are alive should live not for themselves but for the one who died for them and was raised.

(Let Christ?s love for all people, control you. How amazing is this! Jesus died for all. Not just for someone like me, but for all people. Jesus wants us to live our lives, with his love for all people. Not for the people we think are worthy of Jesus? love?but for everyone who God loves.)

16 So then, from this point on we won?t recognize people by human standards. Even though we used to know Christ by human standards, that isn?t how we know him now. 17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!

(Wouldn?t that be amazing if we recognized one another as God sees us? Not as we see each other. We see color and race, hair, eyes, backgrounds, history, denomination affiliation, political parties, sick, handicapped, addicted-these are human standards. Could you imagine if we saw people as God saw us? That no matter what, every person is God?s child and made in God?s image?that everyone, because of the resurrection, is a new creation.)

18 All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 In other words, God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ, by not counting people?s sins against them. He has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.

(We could probably just talk about the word reconciliation! That?s another sermon. Yet take this away?God trusted us with the message of reconciliation. Not the message of judgment or hatred?but of reconciliation.)

20 So we are ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ?s representatives, ?Be reconciled to God!? 21 God caused the one who didn?t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through him we could become the righteousness of God.?

(We represent Christ, too. Paul passed that on to us. How are we doing?)

I am going to tell you, I fell in love with this passage this past week. I have always loved the words from verse 17- ?So then, if anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!? And I know I have read the whole book before. But for some reason, this time, as I thought about what it means to truly be a new creation and live out my life truly believing in the resurrection, this passage filled me with hope, joy, love, and overwhelming grace all in one moment.

It is through the power of the resurrection that we are reconciled with God. We are made whole because of the mighty acts of God. In my brokenness, I am still loved and cherished by God. When I fail, I am still held in God?s arms. When I am judgmental, rude, hateful, disrespectful?I am still loved and forgiven. When I am caring, loving, full of grace, welcoming, accepting, honest, and open?I am loved and continually made into a new creation.

As I wrap up, I want us to recognize that we live in a community where genuine and authentic people are needed. I don?t want us to be fake anymore. My greatest desire for the Christian church, the people of God is to believe the good news of the Resurrection, not matter how small or big your faith might be, and to live out as people called to represent Christ as ambassadors and reconcilers in this broken world.

When people see you in your Easter dress, walking down the street, make sure they know that you believe in the Resurrection and that as a resurrection people, you believe all people are made new in Christ Jesus?everyone is welcome at God?s table.