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Eastertide Invitations
2026-4-21 | Kate Cogswell
Just when you thought Easter was over…
It turns out that in the church calendar, the Easter Season (or Eastertide) is only just beginning on Easter Sunday. It celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the initial celebration through the ascension to the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Eastertide spans 50 days and has been referred to as “fifty days of
joyful celebration”.
This season gives us space to reflect on what it really means that Jesus is risen—and how that good news continues to shape our lives, how the resurrection of Jesus changes everything.
In the weeks ahead, we will be inviting you to join us in a few simple practices that can help us notice and grow into this joy.
And really - who doesn’t want to experience more joy?!
Before we move forward, though, it helps to begin with honesty about where we are.
So we’re going to slow down and look back for a moment—returning to the end of Holy Week. I’m inviting you to pay attention to your own heart as we do, because we can’t move meaningfully forward if we’re not aware of where we are starting.
As we take this time to reflect, it might help to remember that Holy Week isn’t just something that happened when Jesus walked the earth —it’s a journey we all find ourselves in, again and again.
At different times in our lives, we experience different parts of that week of Jesus’ life:
Sometimes we’re in moments of preparation and surrender…
sometimes in grief or disappointment…
sometimes in waiting and uncertainty…
sometimes in joy and new life…
and sometimes a combination of any of these at the same time.
So instead of rushing ahead, we’re going to slowly walk through these moments together—and as we do, I invite you to notice where your own heart connects.
There’s Maundy Thursday—a space of preparation, service, surrender, even unexpected moments…
Good Friday—where we feel sorrow, grief, disappointment, fear, or loss…
Holy Saturday—that in-between place of waiting, darkness, uncertainty, even doubt…
And Easter Sunday—joy, celebration, redemption, and hope.
You may find yourself clearly in one of these spaces—or not quite in any of them. You might even resonate with several at once. Wherever you are, that’s okay. God is with you wherever you are.
Simply, prayerfully, take time to ask God to help you name what is true in your life right now.
Wherever you find yourself, I pray you experience renewed strength, encouragement, and a deep awareness of God’s presence in your life. And that, in time, this awareness would gently prepare us to explore what it means to live into resurrection joy—together.
(We practiced this together during worship on Sunday, April 12.)