EASTER PEOPLE

Years ago when I was in seminary, one of the banners we had hanging around the place read “We Are Easter People and Alleluia Is Our Song.” Well, we were and it was living, as were, in an environment closed off from the real world behind the seminary doors and walls. The outside world was much different as I soon learned after seminary when I was thrust into parish life in that real world. Over the years I have come to learn that there are many kinds of Easter People who have their own songs to sing.

First, there are the Easter Bunny People for whom Easter is a family celebration with the Easter Bunny and jelly beans and chocolate eggs and a nice dinner and nothing more, certainly no church and no idea what Easter is really about.

The second group are the Easter Bunny, Holy Day people. Easter is a holiday and a holy day. Easter wouldn’t be Easter without the Easter Bunny and all that goes with him but it also wouldn’t be Easter without church.

The third group is made up of the Easter Bunny, Holy Day, Confused Christians. They love the secular part of Easter and are in church not just on Easter and Christmas but regularly. But they are confused. They wonder, “What does it all mean? What does it mean to be an Easter Person? We want to be. We believe we should be. But how do we actually be one in our daily lives? We sing ‘Alleluia’ but we are still trying to figure out what this ‘Alleluia!’ really means.”

The fourth group is made up of the rare birds. They love everything about the secular celebration of Easter: the candy, the food, the family gathering, even the Easter Bunny. They love the liturgy and love to be part of the celebration, not just on Easter but all of Holy Week and participate in the services as much and as best they can. They sing “Alleluia!” not just on Easter but every time they are asked to live out their faith in the resurrected Jesus even if that living out means pain and suffering on their part. They are the true martyrs/witnesses to what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

I wish I could say that I was in the last group. I can only hope I am getting there. Mostly I am part of the third group. Most of the time I understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus and most of the time I follow as I should, live as Jesus would have me live. But there are times when I shy away because I find it difficult to sing “Alleluia” when I am in pain and, in fact, try to avoid it if I can.

I am not one of those rare birds. I was not one in seminary even if my classmates and I thought we were. We had no clue. It was only when we finally got out into the real world among real people who suffered real pain and who wondered why, who wanted to believe but sometimes could not, who were confused and looked to us for answers, it was then that I began to understand what it mean to be an Easter Person. I’m still learning.