The meaning of Easter

On this day, the message of resurrection at The Altar Church is an especially powerful one

Christmas and Easter are the two days a year when many churches see the numbers in attendance rise.

Christmas is celebrated as Jesus’ birthday, and Easter is celebrated as the day he was resurrected. Because Easter in particular always falls on a Sunday, there are many who dress in their Sunday best on this day to attend morning services at churches around the world.

John Padula, an associate pastor at The Altar Church in Coeur d’Alene, referred to the people who come to church solely on those two days as the “Christmas and Easter Christians.”

He said for him and his family, he had not been raised a Christian, but even as a child he had attended church twice a year.

"Easter and Christmas you get a ton of people who come to church who don't normally come to church," Padula said. "They get to hear about the resurrection and they get to hear about Christ crucified and then being raised on that third day and that's, I mean, what sermon could be better than that?"

Glenda Empsall, Deacon at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Coeur d’Alene, said they, too, see the numbers rise on those two occasions.

“We do have Christmas and Easter people and you don’t usually see them the rest of the year,” Empsall said. “But we welcome them on Christmas and Easter.”

Padula said after he came to know Jesus, Easter and the resurrection of Jesus became very important to him. This particular Easter, for Padula and other members of the Altar Church, the message of resurrection is a powerful one. Their Pastor, Tim Remington, was shot eight times earlier this month. On Thursday the pastor went home from the hospital and Padula said he is doing “awesome.”

“It’s awesome because God’s life lives in him and protected him and that is because of the resurrection,” Padula said. “God has just done miraculous things through this and it’s a blessing.”

Reverend Roger LaChance of St. Pius X Catholic Church in Coeur d'Alene, said the days leading up to Easter are the "Sacred Triduum," or the "Sacred Three Days." Holy Week begins on Thursday, commemorating the the Lord’s last supper in which he gives the Eucharist, gives the priesthood to his disciples, and then goes out to the garden to begin his passion.

"We celebrate, of course, his willingness to give himself up for our sins and for the sins of the world," LaChance said.

Good Friday is the day Jesus was condemned to death. LaChance said Jesus was removed from the cross and laid in the tomb on that day because it needed to be done before the Sabbath. The women who were supposed to anoint Jesus in the tomb had been unable to properly do so before the Sabbath. The Saturday before Easter, Holy Saturday, is a "prayerful day," LaChance said. In the Catholic tradition, he said, Holy Saturday night is very important because they traditionally celebrate the Easter vigil, lighting the new fire and observing several other traditions leading to the coming of Jesus.

Early Sunday morning, it was discovered that the tomb was empty, and Jesus is said to have made several visits to the women and the Apostles that day.

Reverend Deidre Ashmore, of the Unity Spiritual Center of North Idaho, said Easter carries a message beyond that of Jesus dying on the cross, but rather the overcoming of death. The resurrection carries a message of new life.

“That new life is always taking place in us,” Ashmore said. “So, because we serve the living Christ, what I like to think is it’s the resurrection of our best selves each year in following the teaching of Jesus and the message of Jesus’ love, and forgiveness is the way.”

The title of Ashmore’s Easter Sunday service is: “When love finds you, be willing to be found.”

“It’s about the idea of Christ’s love and that it lives in us,” she said.

Pastor Paul Van Noy, of Candlelight Christian Fellowship in Coeur d'Alene, said his Easter message is titled: "The five phases of the resurrection." The focus, he said, is on the "Distinctives" in the Bible, where believers from generations past and present celebrate the resurrection in a "very literal sense."

"The believer has a hope of everlasting life, and that everlasting life is provided to us because of the death, burial, and with emphasis, the resurrection of Jesus," Van Noy said.

Van Noy and the others agree that the message of the resurrection is relevant in the world today.

"If Jesus did come, and he was born and he died and did not rise from the dead, we would all be without hope," Van Noy said. "In my world and in your world, I think people today need hope, and the resurrection is a message of hope."

LaChance said the events of Easter not only belong to the past, but also the present and the future. The past is the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus. The present, he said, is entering into the death and resurrection of Jesus through baptism.

“And then the future ... we hear that Jesus is identified as the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead," LaChance said. "The implication there is we'll be judged on how well we've lived, and how well we've let Jesus' life, death and resurrection shape our own lives."

Ashmore said the message may be even more relevant in the world as it is today. She said the Unity church may differ slightly from the traditional Christian base in the fact that it is not about bringing people to become followers of Christ.

"It's more about being and living as and from the teachings of Jesus," she said. "It is available to all of us, so that's the path should we choose to embrace it and live from it."

"There is so much going on in the world," Empsall said. "And as people of faith we're called by all of the words that Jesus said, to care for our neighbors and to love one another. If we really took that seriously, if everyone did that, we wouldn't have all the trouble we are having in the world. But, it isn't an easy thing to do and we often stray.”