Springing Bright Sunday
So I'm springing 'Bright Sunday' on the church family tomorrow. Unbelievably I had never heard of this until this past week. Here's some info I found:-----------------------------------------
For Centuries in Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant countries, the week following Easter Sunday, including 'Bright Sunday' (the Sunday after Easter), was observed by the faithful as 'days of joy and laughter' with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus' resurrection.The custom was rooted in the musings of early church theologians that God played a practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead. "Risus pachalis - the Easter Laugh," the early church called it. In the early days of Christianity, all of Easter Week was one continuous feast... a week of intense happiness and spiritual joy.Easter Week celebrations went on for centuries until they faded away in the last century in increased secularized societies. Easter Monday is still observed as a holiday in 125 countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and the state of North Carolina.
-------------------------------------------If the Resurrection doesn't fill us with joy and laughter... intense happiness and spiritual joy... then why are we doing this? Of course it does! How awesome an idea, regardless of its origins.
For Centuries in Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant countries, the week following Easter Sunday, including 'Bright Sunday' (the Sunday after Easter), was observed by the faithful as 'days of joy and laughter' with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus' resurrection.The custom was rooted in the musings of early church theologians that God played a practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead. "Risus pachalis - the Easter Laugh," the early church called it. In the early days of Christianity, all of Easter Week was one continuous feast... a week of intense happiness and spiritual joy.Easter Week celebrations went on for centuries until they faded away in the last century in increased secularized societies. Easter Monday is still observed as a holiday in 125 countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and the state of North Carolina.
-------------------------------------------If the Resurrection doesn't fill us with joy and laughter... intense happiness and spiritual joy... then why are we doing this? Of course it does! How awesome an idea, regardless of its origins.
