April-May 2026

​Have you made all your Easter plans, including a family dinner and Easter egg hunt? Have you
purchased all your Easter gifts? Well, you have only a few days left. I am not sure Easter is as big
a celebration as it used to be.
Easter was up there with Christmas, at least when I was a child. We couldn’t wait for the egg hunt
and the big family dinner with Ham and all our Easter favorites. It took a lot of planning and time
for Mom to orchestrate a dinner for both sides of our family at one time. Mom did master getting
everything ready before and after church. I remember one time, Mom got to church and still had
her apron on, all covered in flour. Today, Lisa is the one planning and preparing our dinner, and
she is also mastering getting it all done on time, with church in the middle. Easter is stressful for
some.
For me, I used to spend a lot of time practicing for our musical cantatas with dramas. It took a lot
of time and effort to put it all together. By the way, my mom used to sing in the cantatas, too!
Though I do miss it, I don’t miss all that stress, but that doesn’t mean Easter isn't stressful for me;
it still is.
As ministers do, we plan and prepare our Easter-themed sermons in hopes that they will be a
celebration of our salvation and a time of praise to God for what Jesus did by dying on the cross
for us and for what God did by raising him from the dead. We also hope that our messages will be
convicting and persuasive, encouraging people to make Jesus their Savior. The success of Easter
isn’t found in numbers, but in the hearts of lives that have been saved!
We all need to plan and prepare for Easter, not just our family gatherings and egg hunts. We need
to prepare our hearts and minds, too. Easter has been celebrated on the exact date for almost
2,000 years. We shouldn’t let it become mundane and just another day. It’s not!
Easter should be the biggest celebration for the Christian, even bigger than Christmas. Let’s join
together on April 5th and rejoice! Jesus is ALIVE!