Easter, one of the main seasons in Christianity, where the most of our faith stems from; the death and resurrection of Christ. Its importance is never exaggerated, most especially in my family where our religion and faith is the bedrock of my family. Easter in my family is a period of celebration and reflection and prayers, a period of refirming our faith and believes, assurance that our fragility and mortality is not in vain because of the reassurance that Christ paid the ultimate price for our souls.
This year, I spent the Easter away from home, away from the usual rituals that accompany our version and celebration of Easter. Away from the familiarity of what I have come to associate as the celebration of Easter. This year I spent it working, something I have never done or imagine doing during Easter, as Easter is generally a public holiday, a weekend without work. This year, I spent my Easter with a different set of people, did different activities and attended different services and celebrations that mark the Easter Holiday.
First, to really understand how different this Easter was for me, you need to know exactly what Easter is to me and my family usually. My family is of The Apostolic Church, and this period, we end up going for convention service (retreat) which usually last for about four days. You get to meet a lot of people, coming in from different states for the church programme. This year was different because I went for an official assignment outside my state.
On Monday during our usual board meeting, my department head informed us that we needed to be out of town for a day to enable us close a deal. This was a trip that was going to be a day trip, we go Thursday and come back on Friday but the meeting ended up extending till Saturday morning which made us to come back on Sunday.
I Started thinking and looking for how I was going to join the Easter activities in my church. On Thursday evening, after getting back from the meeting with our investors, I went to my colleagues room to do some work. I noticed she was getting prepared to step out. I asked where she was headed and she said church, I asked which and she responded, “Catholic church”, that it was holy Thursday and they have a mass that night. The mass of the Lord’s supper where they commemorate Christ last supper with his disciples before his arrest. Despite the fact I went to do some work, curiosity worn out and I decided to go with her.
The service was a totally different one from what I know and used to. The priest demonstrated what Christ did by washing the feet of some members of the church. I found out that Catholics have a whole weekend activity Starting from the Holy Thursday, to the dramatization of the death and crucifixion of Jesus. There was also a service which a lot of prayers, unveiling and kissing of the cross of Christ on Good Friday was done. There is a vigil on Saturday with the candle light procession and long service. The experience was so different from what I usually experience every year. It gave me a deeper knowledge on what the celebration was about and how other churches celebrated the death and resurrection of Christ and its significant to them.
Basically, Easter is about Christ resurrection and how His atonement for our sin is the reason for our salvation. But this year, experiencing Easter from a different angle reaffirmed that faith and belief in the death of our Lord Saviour. Christianity has different denomination with each interpreting the season differently but at the end of the day, it still speaks the same message. This years own feels different for me because I experienced it from a different church and I am grateful for this opportunity because I will never forget the experience despite the fact that I did it without my family and it was done outside my comfort zone.
Sylvia Hogan #MMBA3
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