MONDAY MUSINGS

March 24, 2008

Early Easter

When I took my Sunday afternoon walk yesterday, Easter, I was greeted with two periods of snow squalls, nothing serious but a momentary reminder that while the calendar says it is spring, the weather may at times make a liar of the calendar.

Easter was unusually early this year.  The date is dependent on the lunar cycles, the first Sunday after the first full moon after the equinox.  In fact, the earliest Easter can ever be is March 22.  This happened in 1818 and will not happen again until 2285.  The last time Easter fell on March 23 was in 1913, well before most of us were born, and will not happen again until 2228.

I remember some very cold and miserable Easters.  I participated in a community Easter Sunrise service at the Methodist Church in western Minnesota in the mid 1960’s and walked through some significant snow to attend.  When we were in Fort Wayne, some of the churches sponsored a Sunrise Service at the cemetery on the western edge of town and we nearly froze one year, out in the open with a biting wind and a meager attendance.  Ah, the uncertainties of an outdoor service!

As a pastor, I was disappointed when the school Spring Break schedule corresponded with Holy Week.  I knew that a number of people would be missing and I was jealous of our response to the special services of Holy Week.  That is why I preferred early and late dates for Easter, to avoid the Spring Break exodus.  An early Easter also means that Pentecost Sunday, seven Sundays after Easter, will be early as well this year, May 11, not conflicting with Memorial Day weekend as it often does. 

The good thing about Easter is that resurrection and new life is such Good News that the weather doesn’t make any difference.  The new Easter clothes are even more fitting when the weather is problematic.  So put on the new and rejoice in the promise of new life for you and for this world in which we are privileged to live.  Happy Easter.  Peace.  John Krueger