Easter

In the feast of Easter we celebrate Jesus Christ's resurrection. That glorious event, as Kimberlee Conway Ireton has reminded us, literally "changes everything." Our contributors help us celebrate the Easter season faithfully and winsomely today.

Mark Roberts urges us to celebrate Easter for fifty days because "the implications of the resurrection lavishly overflow a one-day container." Milton Brasher-Cunningham invites us to eat together during Eastertide, for "the power of Christ's resurrection is realized most in collecting those whom we love around a table that nourishes us all, and praying God would give us new eyes to see those who belong alongside us." While the customs of the Paschal Triduum—Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday—were created for catechumens, Michael Foley shows how they continue to hold significance for the Church as a whole. Mark McClintock crafts Easter worship with children in mind.

To confess Christ "descended into hell," Keith Johnson writes, means "we can face the sometimes brutal and terrifying edges of human life without fear." Bob Kruschwitz explores how the power of Christ's resurrection raises us to "newness of life" by breaking our entrenchment in a rebellious way of life and instructing us in a Christlike way of living.

The study guides and lesson plans integrate Bible study, prayer, and worship to explore how the Easter season guides our formation as disciples. The guides can be used in a series or individually. You may download and reproduce them for personal or group use.

Download the entire Easter issue and the set of five Study Guides. Or, download individual pieces by clicking the titles below.

Articles

• "Celebrating Easter for Fifty Days," by Mark D. Roberts
• "The Paschal Triduum," by Michael P. Foley
• "'He Descended into Hell,'" by Keith L. Johnson
• "Raised to Walk in Newness of Life," by Robert B. Kruschwitz
• "On Beyond Easter," by Milton Brasher-Cunningham

Art

• "The Power of the Resurrection," by Heidi J. Hornik, on Piero Della Francesca's The Resurrection of Christ
• "Anticipation," by Heidi J. Hornik, on Eugène Burnand's Saints Peter and John Running to Christ's Tomb on the Morning of the Resurrection (Les Disciples) and Cristoforo de Predis's Following the News of Mary Magdalene of the Resurrection of Jesus, Simon Peter and John Come Running to the Tomb

Hymn and Worship Service

• "The First Day of Creation," by David W. Music
• Worship Service by David W. Music

Inspirational Pieces

• "The 'Real Presence' in Footwashing," by Bill J. Leonard
• "Between Easter Eggs and the Empty Tomb," by Mark McClintock
• "Other Voices," Quotations on Easter

Book Reviews

• "Christ's Last Words from the Cross," by Arthur Boers
  • Stanley Hauerwas, Cross-Shattered Christ: Meditations on the Seven Last Words
  • Richard John Neuhaus, Death on a Friday Afternoon: Meditations on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross
  • Peter Storey, Listening to Golgotha: Jesus' Words from the Cross
  • William H. Willimon, Thank God It's Friday: Encountering the Seven Last Words from the Cross
  • Richard Young, ed., Echoes from Calvary: Meditations on Franz Joseph Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Christ
• "Charting the Christian Hope," by Cameron Jorgenson
  • Matthew Levering, Jesus and the Demise of Death: Resurrection, Afterlife, and the Fate of the Christian
  • Kevin J. Madigan and Jon D. Levenson, Resurrection: The Power of God for Christians and Jews
  • N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

Study Guides and Lesson Plans 

Download the set of five Study Guides

• "Celebrating Easter for Fifty Days"
• "The Paschal Triduum"
• "'He Descended into Hell'"
• "Raised to Walk in Newness of Life"
• "On Beyond Easter"

Further Reading

• "The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail," by Ralph C. Wood (Heaven and Hell)
• "Walking the Walk (of the Stations of the Cross)," by Carmen Acevedo Butcher (Lent)
• "Keeping Vigil," by Heather Hughes (Lent)
• "Death, Resurrection, New Creation," by Dan Epp-Tiessen (Apocalyptic Vision)
  • N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
  • Donald G. Bloesch, The Last Things: Resurrection, Judgment, Glory
  • Jürgen Moltmann, The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology
• "The History of Heaven and Hell," by Rikk Watts (Heaven and Hell)
  • Alan Bernstein, The Formation of Hell: Death and Retribution in the Ancient and Early Christian Worlds
  • Piero Camporesi, The Fear of Hell: Images of Damnation and Salvation in Early Modern Europe
  • Jeffery Burton Russell, A History of Heaven: The Singing of Silence