Christians during the middle of the first century, following the stories of the Resurrection, kept every Sunday as a celebration of this event. It was not until the end of the first century that the celebration of Easter became an annual observance.

In 325 AD, the Council of Nicea placed the observance of Christ’s resurrection on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox, or the time when the sun crosses the equator. With that decision, the time of Easter has always fallen between March 22 and April 25. So this year is just about as late as Easter can ever fall.

Even though the celebration of the resurrection occurs on a specific day, what’s interesting is that from the early part of Christian history, the understanding of the resurrection has never been limited to a single day event. Early Christians prepared for Easter by sharing in a feast on the preceding Friday and Saturday. During the third century, fasting was extended to the six days of the week before Easter, which we call Holy Week. The expectation was that one cannot suddenly celebrate Easter without first understanding the journey and the struggle of Easter.

As we move toward Holy Week and Easter, I hope we each will grapple with the questions of how this time touches our lives. In our tradition we will gather each night of Holy Week to hopefully not read the stories written in the Gospels as a way to prove something but rather as a way to open our hearts and minds to new encounters with Christ’s words of care, inspiration, struggle, suffering, compassion, and love.

May this season provide us with that opportunity, and in so doing, move us to clearer and more insightful understandings of how our faith is alive.