4 Spiritual Practices for Eastertide

Amidst the joy of celebrating Jesus’ resurrection, I started pondering something this week that I had not considered too deeply before. As we journey from the season of Lent to Easter, many of us may not be aware that Easter is not a day but a season. The season of Eastertide begins on Easter Sunday and continues for the next fifty days. The symbolism of this span of time corresponds to the Gospel stories of Jesus appearing to His disciples for forty days after His resurrection before ascending (Acts 1:3), and then the disciples waiting for ten days together until the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). Eastertide therefore includes two other great celebrations of the church alongside of Easter: Ascension Day and Pentecost Day.

My pondering this past week centered on what spiritual practices or spiritual disciplines are most helpful or appropriate for entering deeply into the season of Easter. After all, Lent gets great attention as a season of repentance and self-examination, and is traditionally connected to three spiritual practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Below I would like to suggest four spiritual practices appropriate for Eastertide, with some additional brief suggestions for both Ascension Day and Pentecost Day.

Gratitude – Eastertide is a season marked by gratitude for all God has done in Jesus Christ. It should be no surprise, then, that gratitude to God for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus should be at the heart of our ongoing celebrations in Easter season. This quickly expands into more general thanks to God for all the blessings of life, for we know that “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17). Intentionally choosing gratitude in life is a great practice in general, but our celebration of Jesus’ resurrection invites us to bring even more focused gratitude to God in this season. What might we offer thanks to God for in Christ and more generally?

Attention and Wonder – Another spiritual practice appropriate during Eastertide is choosing to pay attention and live in wonder. The first disciples were caught off-guard by Jesus’ resurrection because it was something vastly outside their expectations. Many initially failed to even recognize Jesus in their midst. But when the reality of the resurrection eventually hit home, they were overcome with attentive we and wonder. The arrival of Spring naturally connects with this call to attention and wonder. It is good to savor the simple gifts of flowers breaking forth above ground, buds bursting from tree branches, and migrating birds landing on bird feeders. It’s as if the entire natural word is speaking to us: “Pay attention! Stand in awe-filled wonder!” God is at work bringing new life all around us. We just have to pay attention and respond.

Hospitality and Feasting – During Lent we often engage with the purifying practice of fasting. As we enter into Eastertide, however, we replace fasting with feasting. We feast because we have been radically welcomed into God’s household through Jesus (Galatians 4:1-7) and all God’s promises are “yes and amen” in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20). Feasting on God’s goodness abundantly shared with us, we now invite others into that feasting and generosity of life. We enter into the joy of extending our table, sharing our abundance, and opening our home to others in Easter season. Who might we invite to our tables and what might it look like to host an extravagant feast this Eastertide?

Forgiving – Walking from the sober self-reflection of Lent through Holy Week into Easter, we realize just how great God’s love for us is and how God lavishes mercy on us. It is out of this realization of our great forgiveness in Christ that we can also choose to forgive others. St. Paul writes: “Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13). The natural overflow of experiencing dramatic forgiveness from God is to forgive others as well. Honestly, this sometimes is not easy. But just as Lent brought us inside a challenging yet freeing season of self-reflection, so, too, does Easter invite us into a challenging yet freeing season of forgiving others toward whom we hold unforgiveness or bitterness. We can set them free and also set ourselves free at the same time. Who have we struggled to forgive, and what might it look like to take steps of forgiveness toward them?

Along with these general spiritual practices for Eastertide, we may want to enter into practices specific to Jesus’ ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. For Ascension Day, we can enter more deeply into worship of Jesus, marveling at His incarnation, His crucifixion, His resurrection, and His ascension to the Father’s right hand. Perhaps we could take time to express our worship over all these movements of the life of our Savior. We may also want to spend time in intercessory prayer, knowing that Jesus ascended to the Father’s right hand and makes eternal intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).

As Pentecost is marked by a 10-day period of waiting, perhaps a good spiritual practice for this day is to set aside some time of simply waiting on the Lord. Instead of leaping into action, we might take 10, 20, or 30 minutes of stillness and silence to read Scripture, be still, prayerfully reflect, and wait on the Lord. What do we sense God is bringing attention to about God, ourselves, our relationships, and the wider world? If we are in the midst of decision-making, this sort of practice may be even more important.

Eastertide is a rich season of the year, and much more than one day. I hope these suggestions for spiritual practices might enrich our life with God in this season. I would also love to hear from you about what spiritual practices you find most helpful and conducive to entering more fully into the wonder of our celebration of Jesus’ resurrection