Eastertide

Did you know that Easter is not just a single Sunday, but a season of celebration from Easter Sunday to Pentecost...that’s fifty days! Fifty days of celebration.

It’s called Eastertide - the time between Easter morning and Pentecost.

When you take a moment and think about it, it only seems reasonable that we have such an extended celebration of the resurrection of Jesus - after all, it’s a rather significant miracle.

We, at St. Stephen’s, have started this celebration off rather well. First, we had an incredible amount of people joining us for worship on Easter - trumpets and beautiful singers - and a bishop. We followed that with a church wide progressive dinner and then a Sunday filled with red noses, scripture, and some knock knock jokes. Easter brings out all sorts of joy and celebrating...and this coming Sunday will be no different. While I am taking some R&R, our guest pastor Fred Melton will be joining us. Pastor Fred is going to help us understand where all that loose change we have been gathering goes - he will help us learn more about the ELCA World Hunger program.

Easter is a time for celebration - and it is not hard to understand why. If you recall from my Christmas letter I quoted Christina Rossetti’s famous words turned into a Christmas hymn. Below is a poem by her. May you have a blessed Eastertide!

Easter Even

By Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894)

THE TEMPEST over and gone, the calm begun,
Lo, “it is finished,” and the Strong Man sleeps:
All stars keep vigil watching for the sun,
The moon her vigil keeps.

A garden full of silence and of dew,
Beside a virgin cave and entrance stone:
Surely a garden full of Angels too,
Wondering, on watch, alone.

They who cry “Holy, Holy, Holy,” still
Veiling their faces round God’s throne above,
May well keep vigil on this heavenly hill
And cry their cry of love.

Adoring God in His new mystery
Of Love more deep than hell, more strong than death;
Until the day break and the shadows flee,
The Shaking and the Breath.

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Jason