Maybe I liked Easter better when I was a kid. There were Easter egg hunts, new shoes, perms put in our hair, and best of all -baskets of candy. And singing "I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet" at the top of our lungs. The Easter Bunny was right up there with the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus. Some thing was lost in the translation of what Easter was really about to my child-mind. Where was Christ in this child-experience of Easter? Somehow we went to church on Palm Sunday and then Easter morning and we skipped the fact that someone died. Someone important. Because death is too sad, too yucky, too tragic, too___________ for adults to have to suffer through, how can we help our children understand? Yet, it is precisely this grief that allows us to feel joy more fully. It is precisely the death of Jesus that allows for the resurrection. It is precisely the resurrection that allows us to know that Christ is the son of God. It is precisely this knowledge that allows our sin to be forgiven in the name of Jesus Christ. So maybe Easter was more fun when I was a kid, but I certainly appreciate what Christ did for all of us more as an adult.

So start a new tradition of worshiping on Holy Thursday (7pm), and Good Friday (7pm).We can share the joy of our grief together.

Read Mark 16:1-7.