"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  By His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." - 1 Peter 1:3, NRSV

What is your favorite Easter tradition?  Decorating your house with Easter bunnies and chicks?  Spending an evening dyeing and decorating Easter eggs?  Creating candy and gift filled Easter baskets for family and friends?  Filling your home with the scent of Easter lilies, daffodils and tulips?  All of these are fun activities that celebrate the advent of springtime and the cultural holiday of Easter.

As Christians, however, Easter means something more than just the beginning of spring.  Easter is the most important Christian holiday of the year - yes, even more important than Christmas!  It is because of Easter that we are Christians.  If it was not for the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we would have nothing to celebrate!

So I would hope that your Easter traditions include attending the special worship services of Holy Week - Palm/Passion Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and of course, Easter Sunday.

This year, I would like to invite you to add a new twist to your Easter traditions, by telling others the good news of what Easter really means.  How can you do that?  It can be as simple as sending scriptural Easter cards to loved ones.  Or putting a flag with a picture of the cross or the empty tomb by your front door.  Or inviting a friend, associate, relative or neighbor to an Easter worship service.  Or even literally tellling someone what Easter really means to you.  These are all activities of an evangelist -for an evangelist is simply someone who shares the good news of Jesus Christ with others.  And we are all called to be evangelists!

May this holy season of Easter be a special time for you to begin sharing the blessings of God's love, as you proclaim the Risen Christ!