Easter Season
The season of Easter is fifty days long. It is a time of
unbridled joy, with rejoicing, feasting and giving witness! The days from
Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exaltation as one feast,
or better as one ‘great Sunday.’ These above all others are days for
singing alleluia! During these fifty days, the early church allowed no
kneeling and no fasting and sang “Alleluia” constantly.”
Why is Easter time fifty days? The ancient culture had a great respect for
numbers. They believed that numbers hints about God and the meaning of
life. The number seven was thought to contain fullness: there are seven
days in the week, according to God’s original way of ordering time, creating
all that there is and resting. So if you multiply 7 times 7 you have
“fullness times fullness.”
But wait! 7 x 7 is 49! With God there is always more – more than we can
ever imagine. So our holy season of Easter is even more than “fullness
times fullness.” It’s “fullness times fullness” and then some: 7 x 7 + 1.
That’s what love is like: more than we can ever imagine. That’s what heaven
is going to be like: more than we can ever imagine. |
