A Word From the Pastor
Rev. L. David Mortenson, Senior Pastor
Easter, what I believe is the start of the church. If there was only a crucifixion and no rising from the dead, there would be no church. Jesus had to be raised up from the dead for the prophesy to be fulfilled. But Easter was controversial from the beginning, even for early Christians. Fixing the date on which the Resurrection of Jesus was to be observed and celebrated triggered a major controversy in early Christianity.
The Council of Nicaea in 325 decreed that Easter should be observed on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox (March 21). Easter, therefore, can fall on any Sunday between March 22 and April 25. Eastern churches use a different calendar than western churches, so they celebrate Easter 2 weeks later. Bet you thought everyone celebrated Easter at the same time.
Painted and decorated Easter eggs were first recorded in the 13th century. The church prohibited the eating of eggs during Holy Week, but chickens continued to lay eggs during that week, and the notion of specially identifying those as "Holy Week" eggs brought about their decoration. The egg itself became a symbol of the Resurrection. Just as Jesus rose from the tomb, the egg symbolizes new life emerging from the eggshell. In the Orthodox churches, eggs are painted red to symbolize the blood Jesus shed on the cross.
First lady Lucy Hayes, the wife of Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes, is often credited with sponsoring the first annual Easter egg roll (an event where children and their parents were invited to roll their eggs on the Monday following Easter) on the White House lawn, in 1878.
We have a rabbit delivering Easter eggs in the US, but in Switzerland they have a cuckoo delivering eggs, and parts of Germany, it's a fox.
The main thing is that we celebrate our Savior, Jesus Christ, rising from the grave, defeating sin and death, and bringing all of God's creation into the family. I pray God's blessings on all of His children.
Happy Easter!
Pastor David