In our latest episode, Joe and I talk about what it’s like to celebrate Easter in mid-faith crisis.
We talked a bit about how Easter is crucial to our identities as Christians, but also how, for those who have left church, or are conflicted, it can be difficult to know properly how to celebrate.
We also looked at how the early church celebrated Easter. It began as the Christian version of Passover – a single night’s fast, followed by a shared meal (a ‘liturgical breakfast’ as one source called it). Later it shifted to the Sunday after Passover, but remained a single event. Only later in the 300s did it develop into ‘Holy Week’.
I’ve gone into more detail here: Easter: From Passover to Holy Week
But it was characterised by three activities: a fast, a vigil and a feast. And centred around the retelling of the story.
So, it seems to me, that if you are not attending a traditional church for whatever reason, you could build a personal pattern of devotion around these activities:
- reading the story in scripture through the week
- an element of fasting
- a 'vigil' of readings, prayer and reflection
- then a big, full-on, festive breakfast, as liturgical as you like.
The Longest Week If you’d like to read more about the first Easter, then check out my book The Longest Week | Nick Page. You can also download a free devotional reading plan to follow the events in real time, as it were.