Description
It may at first be a new thought to the reader, but the celebration of Easter isn’t just a joyful Sunday; it is a full liturgical season like Advent and Lent. Eastertide (season) runs from Easter Sunday until Pentecost, 50 days later. It has been so in Church history, remains so for Christians today, and could rightly be called The Feast of the Resurrection. Pope Leo III (d. 816) called it The Feast of Feasts because the Resurrection—the cardinal event of the ages without which our faith is useless—cannot be learned, inwardly digested, and lived out in a single day.
Advent and Lent are seasons of preparation for the birth and the death and the resurrection of Christ, respectively. Eastertide asks us what are we going to do about it? About our personhood belonging to Christ and not we ourselves. It is a season for deepening one’s spiritual formation (the intentionality of drawing nearer to God). In Eastertide the saying, “HE IS RISEN INDEED!” is lived out in a continual day-to-day personal and corporate celebration of the feast.
The Rev. Canon Dr. Ashley Null’s Eastertide—The Feast of the Resurrection is marrow for the soul, not ritual. It leads one (or a small group or an entire congregation) through the festival season on a daily basis from sundown Easter Sunday until the Saturday before Pentecost Sunday.
Originally presented by Gafcon as a series of online meditations, the renowned scholar and author’s grasp and voicing of the fullness of Easter naturally compelled its preservation and publication in book form. Paramount is the richness of this resource in drawing the reader (participant, really) closer to Christ.