Churches were thrilled for Easter - even if it was a little early
By Mary Loden, Of the News-Tribune
Parishioners made to services through spring snow to worship this holy holiday
For those of us who feel that time flies by way too quickly (didn't we just celebrate Christmas about a month ago?) and are wondering how it could possibly be Easter time already, don't panic, we're not caught in a high-speed time warp. Easter really is early this year.
The last time Easter was celebrated on March 23 was in 1913 and the next earliest time, March 27, was in 1932.
If I had my preferences Easter would always be celebrated at the end of April when it is warm and dry enough for children to hunt for their Easter treats outdoors and women can comfortably wear their new Easter frocks.
While some holidays are fixed, such as Dec. 25 for Christmas, other holidays float in order to always fall on a Monday (Memorial Day is always the last Monday in May) or Thursday (Thanksgiving is always the fourth Thursday in November.)
Others, like Easter, are a bit harder to calculate. The date for Easter can float anywhere from five days to a whole month.
Why? And how does this fluctuation change a church's worship schedule? Easter Day is usually the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs after the vernal or spring equinox on March 20. Precise mathematical calculations have been developed to fix this date each year, give or take a few days to allow for the difference between the astronomical full moon and the ecclesiastical full moon.
The result is Easter can never occur before March 22 or later than April 25.
In June 325 A.D. astronomers approximated 19 full moon dates for the church and called them Ecclesiastical or Paschal Full Moon (EFM) dates. The reason for this was to ensure that Easter Sunday was maintained in the same season of the year and the same relationship to the preceding astronomical full moon that occurred at the time of Christ's resurrection.
In 1583 Pope Gregory the 13th, with his astronomers and mathematicians, revised the former Julian (named for world leader Julius Caesar)
Calendar's EFMs and created what is now known as the Gregorian calendar, which is used by western religions. The Orthodox Church still follows the Julian calendar.
But to really understand why the date for Easter needs to be calculated each year, instead of just fixed, one needs to understand how the early Christian Church taught its new followers about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Since most of the people in the church were poor and had no access to education the church adapted old pagan festivals, which revolved around the seasons, as a vehicle for teaching the story of God and his actions in human history.
While Jewish celebration revolves around the Exodus from Egypt, honored by the keeping of the Passover meal, the Christian Church year focuses on the life and ministry of Jesus. The sequence of Christian festivals from Advent to Easter has become an annual spiritual journey for worshippers.
“God fixed the time of the Passover, the set up and told Moses (in the book of Exodus) when it should be,” explained Pastor Robert Dodge of the United Methodist Church in Britt.
“We're Judeo Christians, that's our history. We're following the way it was originally set up.”
“It was clear in the New Testament that Jesus' death and resurrection took place during Passover. The exact date is really insignificant. The whole point is still to be in line with the Passover,” he said.
Dodge said that when Easter comes early, as it does this year, than some seasons of the Church year are shortened or lengthened to adapt to the floating holiday.
This year the season of Epiphany is shortened, the four to nine Sundays focusing on the baptism of Christ to the transfiguration. And lengthens Kingdomtide, beginning 50 days after Pentecost to the beginning of Advent, 23 to 28 Sundays.
“It makes it interesting, but doesn't really affect us too much,” said Dodge, who explained that the Methodist church uses different colored paraments to mark the change in Church seasons, but doesn't have a strict lectionary, so it's easier.
“We get used to the variables in the calendar,” said Pastor Barb Spaulding, of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Forest City. When the Lenten season begins early than the season of Epiphany is shorter and the season of Pentecost is longer.
She explained that for denominations that follow the Lectionary (a strict set of liturgical Bible readings for a particular Sunday) the last several weeks of readings for Epiphany would not be read this year and additional Lectionary readings would be added to the season of Pentecost.
What this means to the church is, “over half the year is focused on how we live the Christian life rather than on the celebrations and festivals that form the emphasis,” Spaulding said.
“It kind of balances out. When you've been with the church for a long time you get to use those texts,” she said.
She agreed that it just feels more natural when Easter feels more spring-like, but the church still needed to follow the established rules. On years like this, “we have to get our Lenten planning done a little more quickly,” she said.
Spaulding said she has friends who are Eastern Orthodox and the date for Easter on their Julian calendar is a week different then Gregorian calendar. “It just demonstrates the Church has been a fragmented kingdom with a divided family,” she said, “but what a joy it is for us to all celebrate the same thing.
“Ultimately, it's about God's love for his people.”
Story created Mar 26, 2008 - 10:12:54 CDT.
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