Just as Christmas is not one day, but a 12-day feast from Christmas Day (December 25) through Epiphany (January 6), so Easter is not a one-day feast, but rather a fifty-day feast celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus!
Just as the Advent season ends and the Christmas season begins when the sun goes down on Christmas Eve, so the season of Lent ends, and the season of Easter begins, when the sun goes down on Holy Saturday. We welcome in the Easter Season with the Great Vigil of Easter. Then the celebration continues on Easter Sunday, on the subsequent six Sundays, and all the way to the Day of Pentecost: “Pentecost” literally means “the fiftieth day” and marks the last day of the Great Fifty Days of Easter.
The Paschal Candle, lit from a new fire at the Great Vigil of Easter on the night of Holy Saturday, burns throughout the Easter season, reminding us of the Light of Christ’s Resurrection and of Christ’s continuing presence with us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in Word and Sacrament.
For the Sundays of Eastertide except for Easter Sunday this year, the Lectionary presents readings from the Book of Revelation instead of the usual readings from the Epistles. For this reason, beginning on April 27 (the Second Sunday of Easter), we’ll begin a sermon series in that book, entitled “Revelation: A Heavenly Liturgy.”
During Eastertide, we will celebrate the Sacrament of the Eucharist on Easter Sunday (April 20), on the Third Sunday of Easter (May 4), on the Seventh Sunday of Easter (June 1), and on Pentecost Sunday (June 8). All worship services begin at 10:45 AM CDT. Join us!