Eastertide Happy Hour
Practice
Expand your celebration of the resurrection to a season of joy and gratitude.
Schedule a time and place to gather and discuss resurrection stories throughout the season of Eastertide.
Toast! Punctuate the time with a celebratory cheer or toast.
Keep the practice simple and accessible to invite others to join.
“We celebrate with courage all You have done today, and hold on to hope for all You will do tomorrow. ”
Too often, when it comes to celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, one of the most significant and compelling claims of Christianity, we’ve had a similar experience: a single-day celebration with pastel colors, an egg hunt, and a potluck lunch after church. Although there’s nothing wrong with any of those things (except maybe the pastel colors, in my opinion), as a local congregation, we started talking years ago about a more measured response to such a significant event.
Eastertide is 40 days (50 when combined with Ascensiontide) in the liturgical calendar. It is a season for Christians to contemplate, celebrate, and explore the implications of the resurrection from the dead of Jesus of Nazareth. It’s a long-held tradition for Christians lost along the way in many of our upbringings. Our church has put into place a few practices to help our parishioners and neighbors experience and explore this season of celebration. Perhaps the most unique to our community has been Eastertide Happy Hours.
Sunday afternoons throughout the season of Eastertide, we gather on the back patio of the Englewood Grand (which we affectionately refer to as our “Fellowship Hall”). We share stories and observations each week of resurrection, gratitude, and beauty. Some stories are small; spring flowers blooming through cracks in the sidewalk. Some stories are big; a friend or family member recovering from a grave illness. Every story holds equal weight on the scales of resurrection. It is a practice to increase our celebration of the resurrection. We conclude each Eastertide Happy Hour by raising our glasses for a toast and reciting this prayer.
You bring light and life to Your people.
Your mercies are our delight.
You are preparing joy for us and us for joy;
Your death is our life,
Your resurrection our celebration,
Your ascension our hope,
Your presence our peace.
We cling to the promise of the resurrection:
Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again.
We celebrate with courage all You have done today
And hold on to hope for all You will do tomorrow.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and forever shall be:
World without end!
Amen!
Nathan Hoag is the Parish Pastor for Sacred Grace Englewood. Nathan serves as a Chaplain to the Englewood Police Department, on the Chamber of Commerce Board, and received the Englewood Citizen of the Year award in 2021.
