BY GEORGE!
Welcoming Easter
Like a guest that arrives early, Easter this year called us to hurry up our welcome.
The earliest calendar date on which Easter can fall is March 22, and the latest it can be is April 25. Easter’s March 23 date this year is highly unusual. The last time Easter fell so early was 1913; so, only those older than 95 have seen it before, though none of us will see the next time in 2160. None of us have seen Easter fall on the earliest possible date, March 22, and none ever will. That last occurred in 1818, and it will not happen again until 2285.
Calculating Easter is too complicated for non-math majors. Innumerates (the number-dummy cousins of reading-challenged illiterates) can fall back on the following formula: Easter generally falls on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox, which is always March 21. But since it can never be March 21, you always have to add a day at least. Simple.
Welcoming Easter is easier than knowing when it will arrive year to year. Easier, that is, unless by welcoming it you mean more than knowing when to order the ham, color the eggs and dress the house in lilies.
Welcoming Easter well means raising your head out of the ruts that have become graves to you. It means answering the call of God to come forth to new life. It means embracing the risen Christ as the one and only Savior who can lead you to God.
It’s never too early to welcome Easter, and never too late.
Eastering forth,
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