Memories

As I sit down to write this, the Season of Lent is soon to be over. Growing up in a Polish family with grandparents who were all born in Poland meant that there were many traditions associated with Lent.  There was fasting and abstaining from eating particular foods and having just basic meals at dinner time.  This was to help us to learn and remember that Jesus suffered so much in the weeks leading up to His brutal death.
But on Easter day, the day that we celebrate the Resurrection, the most important day in Christianity, we celebrated with all of those special foods so lovingly prepared by hand.  Some of the foods were so special that they were never prepared or served at any other time of the year.  This was THE holiday... it was always so memorable.  Even though I have not had many of these special foods for decades, as I write about them, I can taste them and smell them.
But you know what, the more important thing that I learned and have always remembered is that Easter is indeed the greatest celebration for Christians. The empty tomb, the tomb closed off with a huge stone that would take several people to move and that huge stone could not be moved in silence. It was a tomb that was guarded by several men and I find it impossible to believe that the guards would not have noticed anything happening. In addition, the body inside the tomb was not just anybody, it was the body of one of the most loved or hated person of the time. Guarding this tomb was not to be taken lightly.
Indeed, the miracle of the Resurrection is the core of our Christian belief system.  So I am saddened that somewhere along the way to my adulthood, our culture in the United States pushed the celebration of Christmas and relegated the celebration of Easter to a far second place.
Oh, they tried with the Easter Bunny, but that bunny didn't stand a chance up against Santa.  A chocolate bunny, some jelly beans and a new "dress-up" outfit just could not stand up against a pile of new toys that Santa brought!
Now don't get me wrong, celebrating Christmas is important and I get the symbol of gift giving as it relates to the gifts brought to Jesus by the wise men. However, I'm pretty sure from my studies that the Magi did not appear with the gifts while Jesus was in the manger. But at any rate, the entire gift buying mania that surrounds the celebration of Christmas has propelled it into a celebration of the gift and not the celebration of the miraculous virgin birth of our savior.  I hope and pray that we can all start to realize what is truly important and become much more Christ-centered in our lives and celebrations.
On another note, I have just attended a small family reunion with my niece and her children and grandchildren and also my nephew's children in Georgia and I had the chance to share some of the stories of those wonderful Polish Easter Celebrations with them.
Deacon Rich