Easter isn’t limited to one day!  Traditionally, the Christian church has celebrated the season of Eastertide—the 50 days from Easter to Pentecost.  Many customs have been practiced all through Eastertide around the globe, from decorating Easter eggs, to Easter egg hunts, to placing lilies on the altar of the church throughout the season.

And don’t we all need more than one Easter Day this year!  We need all that love and exuberance and joy and promise to lift us up again and again, raising us from our own moments of stress and anxiety into the Light and Life of the Resurrected Christ.

If we keep looking, I’m confident that we’ll see all kinds of evidence of how Easter love is happening in our families, neighborhoods and community.  For example, a house I see each morning on my walk has a teddy bear in the window with a hand-colored sign that says “Smile!” Many of our families have started weekly on-line family gatherings, uniting loved ones near and far for a time of sharing, laughing, and lifting up.  Acts of generosity and kindness abound, such as the total stranger who put a roll of paper towels in our cart when he realized that he’d picked up the last pack and we needed some, too.

See What Love Can Do! is our theme for Eastertide 2020.  Keep looking and you’ll see it all around.

And then, if you will, email 1 or 2 pics to Shalimar Carducci: s.carducci@santamonicaumc.org, or post it on your own Facebook or Instagram; Don’t forget to tag us @santamonicaumc so we can repost your pics! We’ll keep a giant virtual “scrapbook” to tell the story of these 50 days when the Light and Life of Christ fill our hearts and our world.

May the blessings of our Risen Lord raise us up!