Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
-- John 20:1-2

Related Resources: Holy Week | Lent | Orthodox Easter

ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson's 2004 Easter Message
Even now Jesus unsettles us with the news that death has not had the last word, that the Resurrected One is on the loose and that he calls us to follow. more...

NCC Easter Message 2004: Fear and Amazement in a Troubled World
Where is the fear and amazement that characterized the first Easter? more...

The Presiding Bishop’s Easter Message 2004
The power of the resurrection is our source of hope. more...

Easter message to the churches from the general secretary of the WCC
It is our hope that churches and Christians throughout the world will join in prayer and celebration to mark this rare occasion of an Easter on the same Sunday everywhere. more...

Easter Tears
When Mary came to the garden Easter morning, she wasn’t just seeking what she had lost. She was weeping. And because of her tears, Jesus made himself known to her. It is the same today. more...

Easter Hope in Time of War
During Holy Week, Christians remember the last events in the life of Jesus -- the stories and teachings that form the foundation of their faith. more...

Called by Name
Each year as Easter approaches, we hear the stories and read the scripture and listen for new life sparkling between the lines. This year, a phrase—now my favorite phrase—touched my heart in a new way. I caught a glimpse of the knowing compassion that is Jesus—the love that dissolves all barriers and blindness we mistakenly erect in fear and ignorance. more...

The victory of the empty tomb
All of them in the Bible story--the ones who saw the empty tomb--are dead now. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. Dead and gone to their tombs and even their tombs lost now in the shrouds of time. And today either we retell a story about them that's a fairytale like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" or we remember a truth, real and alive for them so long ago and real and alive for us right now, this day, this time, this place, this living, you and me.
And today, either we clutch a story about them that is just the fabrication of desperate, fearful people wishing death away, or today is the day you can stop counting your losses. And today either we follow in a 2,000-year-old procession of fools or today is the day to begin believing in miracles, because today either we retell a story that finally is alive or today is the day after death has done its worst, and life wins. more...
-- The Rev. Martha Sterne speaks of the reverberations of an empty tomb.

The English Word Easter
Easter is an English word that derives from the name of a Germanic goddess, and you won’t get any argument from me if you think the word should be deprecated because of its association with pagan fertility rites. On the other hand, the Old Testament book of Esther is named after a Jewish heroine who bore the name of the goddess Ishtar!

In the ancient Church, the celebration of the Resurrection was called Passover. Today, Orthodox Christians call this holiday the Pasch (as in paschal lamb), which is the Greek word for Passover. In Anglican churches, the designation Sunday of the Resurrection is often preferred over Easter and in Lutheran liturgy, it is called The Resurrection of Our Lord.The current ecumenical trend in English-speaking countries is to use Easter for the fifty-day season and Easter Day for the day of the Resurrection.

Aside from English and German, the words for Passover and Easter are the same in most languages.
-- www.KenCollins.com

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Search of Grace: A Religious Outsider's Journey Across America's Landscape of Faith by Kristin Hahn In Search of Grace chronicles Kristin Hahn's two-year journey through the smorgasbord of America's religious and spiritual communities. Like many Generation Xers, Hahn was raised in a home that wasn't affiliated with any particular religion. This didn't seem like much of a handicap until, at age 29, Hahn realized that she had become dependent on hiring people to make her feel better, whether it be acupuncturists, palm readers, or weekend seminar leaders Buy it

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
--John 20:19-21

The Easter Season: The Resurrection Narratives
The Resurrection of Christ is at the center of our faith. The Church devotes eight days of worship to retelling the Resurrection narratives. From Easter to the following (Low) Sunday the readings at Masses present one by one the many New Testament accounts of the appearances of the risen Lord. Our four Gospels, written 30 to 70 years after the Resurrection, tell us what happened in different ways. Each Gospel narrative should be allowed to contribute its own wealth to what we know and believe about the risen Christ. more...

Easter fare that doesn't star Charlton Heston
Religious television programming around Easter is taking a lively approach to ancient history. more...

Bearing the marks of suffering
After showing them his wounds, Jesus once again says, "Peace be with you." Twice Jesus blesses them with peace. This double benediction embraces the moment when he shows the disciples his hands and his side, the wounds of his crucifixion. He shows them his wounds to prove to them that it is he, the crucified one, alive and with them. But he also shows them his wounds because they reveal the startling truth of the disciples' future. The body of Christ, though risen, always is wounded. Always the Body bears the marks of suffering and death. What is true of Jesus will be true of those who bear his name, they too will be wounded and will bear the violence and pain of the world in their body, the Body of Christ, the community of faith, the Church. more...
-- Pastor Susan R. Briehl revisits the small, familiar room where the disciples discover they cannot hide from the risen Christ.

Hope amidst desolation
Several years ago, I traveled the dirt roads of southern Sudan. It was a time of crushing hunger and chaos. Southern Sudan is still perhaps the hungriest place on earth. I was several days ahead of a convoy bringing food to starving refugees. I bumped and rattled along roads that were just rutted dirt tracks through the bush. But along those dusty trails walked tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the army.
The troops came and wiped out whole villages through forced starvation. They would surround a village, fence it off, let nothing in or out until everyone inside was dead--starved. They smashed the heads of children against stones and threw their limp bodies into wells, spoiling the village water supply and ruining any faint hopes that might still live in the hearts of the people.
When I think of Mary going to the tomb, weeping yet surprised by joy, I remember another woman in that desolate land who, with me, met the living Jesus who called us both by name. I found her behind a so-called hospital. She crouched in the dusk beside the motionless form of a little girl, maybe three, shrunken, lying beneath a dirty cloth. The mother sat there keeping watch... more...
-- David Miller finds hope in a moment of unexpected grace.

The Day Philip Joined the Group
The third-graders did not welcome Philip to their group. Not just because he was older. He was "different." He suffered from Down's syndrome and its obvious manifestations: facial characteristics, slow responses, symptoms of retardation. Yet he was able to teach them the meaning of Easter. more...

More Easter: Family activities, great recipes and, of course, the traditional donkey hunt…