Tag: date of Easter

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Forward Look Journal Joy Notes

50th Celebration date

Our Celebration Theme and Logo

The other day Steven and I were talking about the actual birthday of Community Wesleyan Church.   We knew it was Easter 1962 but we did not know the date.  So I reached for my copy of the Book of Common Prayer which has an Easter date table in it and looked up the Easter date for that year.   My eyes widened, I’m sure, and I let out a shout of surprise as I discovered the answer.   Easter in 1962 fell on April 22 which is the exact date we have chosen for our 50th Anniversary celebration in 2012.   We did not realize that correlation when we chose it.   Rather we just picked a Sunday a couple weeks after this coming Easter so that the celebration would not get lost in or detract from Easter and so previous attenders now attending other churches could be here without missing Easter service at their current churches.   But now it is discovered that we will be celebrating God’s faithfulness 50 years later to the day.  What an added blessing!

Categories
Journal Who Am I

Busy weeks: Are they related to a late Easter?

sunny spring flowersIt seems like the weeks since Easter have been unusually busy for me.  How about you? I’m wondering how much of this is related to the late date of Easter?  Easter was about as late as it can possibly get this year.  For one thing, Mothers Day and college graduation season fell only two weeks after Easter, a potentially stressful conjunction of big events.  At Community Wesleyan, global partners (missions) emphasis which usually fits comfortably between Easter and Mother’s Day, now was shoehorned into an already busy May as well.   

My parents and grandparents, passing down the wisdom of generations of farm families, had a saying that if Easter was late, spring would also be late. That certainly has been truly here in Syracuse this year. As a gardner, this has also added to the busyness of late April and early May. Tilling that was done in mid-April in past years could not be done until the first May. Lettuce, radishes, spinach, and peas have often been planted in April but this year are being planted in May.   At least we didn’t start mowing the lawn until the first week in May.

As I reflect on it, a late Easter was nice for having crocuses and tulips out to adorn the season.  I also enjoyed the longer winter sermon series it allowed.  But I’m not sure I like the time crunch that has followed. I still think the ideal time for Easter celebration is the second Sunday in April.  But since it’s not up to you and me anyway, I guess we’ll just have to take it as it comes and remember that God’s grace is sufficient for everyday!   Sometimes I need to be reminded of my favorite verse, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Co 9:8 NIV).