Easter is a weird holiday in my family.
For one thing, we're not religious.
Oh sure, if you ask my mother, she says we are. Nevertheless, we don't go to church. We haven't gone to church. There is no potential church in our future.
We've all been baptized and confirmed. Everyone got married in a church. Church has been there to create markers for our lives.
All that aside, we're not religious.
So why do we celebrate such a religious holiday?
I don't think of Christmas in the same way.
Christmas has become more than a holiday; it's a season. It's a cultural phenomenon. To avoid it would be like trying to avoid a hug from my grandmother on your birthday (it's not going to happen).
Easter, however, seems easier to dodge. It wouldn't be impossible to let it slip by and carry on with life.
So why don't we?
Well, for one thing, it becomes a nice excuse to have the family together for dinner. Lately, we need the world to shut down to get us all at the same table. Easter may not shut it down, but it certainly slows it down enough to help us remember that we have each other.
And unlike Christmas, there's so much less pressure involved with Easter. No presents (no little kids to do baskets for anymore), no decorations, and just a ham to make.
It's like Holiday-Lite.
So instead of worrying about whether or not the tree is falling on the television, we just sit and laugh and enjoy each other.
From what I recall of my religious education, Easter is about remembering all that Jesus did for us, but I think it's better to allow the holiday to keep doing something for us--and that's allowing us to have one more Sunday together.
Even lapsed Catholics can appreciate ham and family.
For one thing, we're not religious.
Oh sure, if you ask my mother, she says we are. Nevertheless, we don't go to church. We haven't gone to church. There is no potential church in our future.
We've all been baptized and confirmed. Everyone got married in a church. Church has been there to create markers for our lives.
All that aside, we're not religious.
So why do we celebrate such a religious holiday?
I don't think of Christmas in the same way.
Christmas has become more than a holiday; it's a season. It's a cultural phenomenon. To avoid it would be like trying to avoid a hug from my grandmother on your birthday (it's not going to happen).
Easter, however, seems easier to dodge. It wouldn't be impossible to let it slip by and carry on with life.
So why don't we?
Well, for one thing, it becomes a nice excuse to have the family together for dinner. Lately, we need the world to shut down to get us all at the same table. Easter may not shut it down, but it certainly slows it down enough to help us remember that we have each other.
And unlike Christmas, there's so much less pressure involved with Easter. No presents (no little kids to do baskets for anymore), no decorations, and just a ham to make.
It's like Holiday-Lite.
So instead of worrying about whether or not the tree is falling on the television, we just sit and laugh and enjoy each other.
From what I recall of my religious education, Easter is about remembering all that Jesus did for us, but I think it's better to allow the holiday to keep doing something for us--and that's allowing us to have one more Sunday together.
Even lapsed Catholics can appreciate ham and family.
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