EASTER

Easter is here again.  Lent was the time to give up chocolate or make some such sacrifice.  All those who have done the Lenten thing are primed to get through Sunday so they can wolf down some chocolates or realize that they really didn't need the material "addiction/tempations/dependencies" in this spiritual world.
Easter is the time that Jesus died on the Cross.  It culminates the week. The ritual is the whole week.  Every day of easter week there are church happenings. Outsiders are welcome.
Among Christians there's a group called C&E. These are those who practice privately and call themselves Christians but aren't regular attenders except Christmas and Easter.  77% of Canadians call themselves Christians. That's the polls, but you'd never know it by how little media comments on this or how little of the common persecution of Christians around the world is heard about.  Because of the intrinsic humility and anonymity of mainstream Christians (as opposed to the loud televangelists) most people don't know how  much of the charity and care in the world and volunteer work is done by Christians and churches.  Governments take credit for so much but all the cracks are filled by those of good faith.
There was a trend  to community churches with a decrease somewhat in the mainstream churches. This may be changing somewhat because there's more attending Catholic churches and the mainstream churches in this last year according some polls.  This is just a local - federal ebb and flow with more and more home study Christianity being the back bone and less edifices of grandeur like the community Cathedrals of yesteryear.  We still try to preserve these structures. The church was the place of culture and architecture was the greatest of democratic arts open to be enjoyed by all.
The fact is 'spirituality' is in. Christian spirituality has always be "in'. Anyone is welcome in churches during Easter week. Of course they are welcomed all the rest of the year but this is when the church brings out the horns and good linens.  A good time for Christians to bring secular friends out.  Come early though as the church is usually filled Easter.
To Christians, Jesus's death on the cross was a horrible thing but also because it was followed by his Resurrection, a wonderful thing.  Easter is 'celebrated' in the Christian faith.
Jesus represented love and was considered the new Adam.  Adam and Eve had been expelled from the Kingdom, fallen,  and Jesus came with a new Accord.  He preached the Sermon on the Mount and said that the Good News was that God Loves.  God loves you.  There is life after death and that life is love.  It was very different from the Old Testament image of God as punisher. Jesus called God Abba or Papa.
The world is full of negativity and trial but if we see this as a 'kindergarden' then like caterpillars who don't know they'll one day be butterflies we can live with this notion based on the holy scriptures.  God is love. Love your neighbour as your self.  Seek God. And there is life after death.
If one actually can't believe this but "fakes it till they make it" the result is the same.  The benefit is in turning to God.  It's about spiritual progress. Look to the light.  It's hard to think your way into a new way of being but it's easy to be your way into a new way of thinking.  That's the leap of faith.  Faith is irrational and yet the rewards are immeasurable.
The Devil was said to turn his back on God and prefer to look at the darkness of his own reflection. This is pride and arrogance.  Humility is putting God in charge and knowing that the world isn't revolving around me. I'm not God. The great Christian Mystic St. John of the Cross said "NADA".  C.S. Lewis said the thoughts are creatures.  I can think of myself as God but I am not able to levitate this minute except in my mind.  Carl Jung called it the 'collective unconscious' and reality might well be the 'collective conscious' as Owen Barfield argued.
The literal biblical teaching becomes clearer to the student just as chemistry is obscure on first reading,  The Holy Bible makes more sense the more it is studied. Being in Christian community makes the life of Christians more attractive than at first sight when they seem so "normal" or 'earthly'.
Christians have a code. They follow the 10 commandments and strive to love.  Because they have a code and standards they are easily ridiculed by those who don't dare to committ to standards but rather hypocritically judge others as hypocrites.
Easter is a time of celebration. It's a time of community. It's a time to get together with other Christians and sing God's praise.
I would hope that one day soon Christians would walk through the streets like they do in Europe. Great parades like the old testament ones where David lead the community.  Great progressions with ridden into donkey into the city with masses of Christians from all congregations ecumenically celebrating the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem.
Jesus was said to be Son of God.  God became Man.  God entered his creation through the Risen One.  God suffered in the flesh and ignorance to become again God transcendent. In the act of Resurrection Jesus changed history and made it possible for all to join God through prayer, the holy spirit and heaven.  The death and resurrection of Jesus changed the very fabric of the universe.
Physicists recognise in Quantum Physics that the Multiverse has replaced our notion of the Universe.  There are infinite possibilities. The spirituality of old is more true to the science of the new.  The limitation is the clinging to fears and limitations. The difficulties with our little mind is that fear controls us and contains us in the known rather than letting in the healing light of God.
God wants so much more than we can imagine for us. If we believe that God is love and simply recognise that as Mark Twain said, we've died more often in our minds and suffered more from worry and fear than what we've actually faced, then we will see by the evidence that we'll alive, on this side of the grass and for that alone God is great.  God is good. Count your blessings.
Jesus Christ means 'god within, god will come again'.  Spirituality is growing love inside.
This Easter is a time to love one another. Try it. It feels good. Go to church. Be among the pageantry.  Hang out with Christians.  Talk about Jesus. Share the word.   Have a joyful time.  Have a great Easter.  God Bless! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!