When I first heard the phrase and song “We are an Easter People,” I honestly thought it was weird. If we are Easter people, do we have to frolic through fields of wildflowers wearing our Sunday best? Do we have to carry around a crucifix, a constant reminder of Jesus’ violent death at the hands of the state? Can’t we just be Christmas people, something that doesn’t involve death and sorrow, glossing over the pain to the healing?

The truth is, we ARE Easter people.

It is an essential part of our story as followers of Christ and – each year – we have the opportunity to focus in and revisit this part of God’s story. We even set aside time to discern how the cycle of death and resurrection stirs within our own lives and contexts in 2021.

The “Easter people” phrase has been around a long time (St. Augustine and before), yet Pope John Paul II resurrected it (pun intended) in the 1980s. “We know Jesus has conquered sin and passed through his own pain to the glory of the Resurrection. And we live in the light of his Paschal Mystery – the mystery of his Death and Resurrection. “We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!”. We are not looking for a shallow joy but rather a joy that comes from faith, that grows through unselfish love, that respects the “fundamental duty of love of neighbour, without which it would be unbecoming to speak of Joy”. We realize that joy is demanding; it demands unselfishness; it demands a readiness to say with Mary: “Be it done unto me according to thy word”. – Pope John Paul II, 1986

Easter Inside of You

What in your life has recently ended, and now what is resurrecting? Where is the new life found in

your mind and your heart, and where have you made space for healing and other people? Just some things to ponder.

Prayer: Creator of Easter People, we praise you today. We do so without the flippant excuse to celebrate; instead, we praise Your Name because of the deep “joy that comes from faith, that grows through unselfish love.” Guide us to practically love our neighbor, for through serving others we can experience such incredible joy. Christ, in your name we pray, Amen.

Don’t worry–if you’re fully embracing being “Easter People,” you have seven Sundays in the church calendar to relish in this season! Go plant some new life on your patio, or create new life by reaching out to someone today. Let us fully wear the identity as Christ’s Easter people!

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And….Heartland Camp is coming!!

Check out our Camp Page here!

(https://holmeswoodfam.org/heartland/)

July 26-30 for all campers completing Kinder–6th grades. Registration is open, so sign up soon! Friends and neighbors are welcome to join in the fun. = )

Heartland Day Camp