Whensday: Spring

Was it yesterday (March 19) or today March 20)? Or maybe tomorrow? When does Spring start? As far as we are concerned, it gets going as soon as we see the crocus flowers in our garden. That is often in February and we know that Sporing is on the way. 

We noticed that the US already moved into Summer Time, springing ahead by one hour. In Europe we will only spring ahead at the end of the month, which is the Saturday before Easter. So the month will end, Spring will begin, we will all lose an hour sleep and Easter will wake us up. To be honest, that is not a bad picture if you think about the resurrection of the Lord. His resurrection on Easter Sunday was indeed the end of the darkness of death and the beginning of real life for everyone who believes. 

Easter in Dutch-speaking Europe is called “Pasen” - a word linked to the Jewish celebration, the “Pascha” (or Passover” in English). As with many other countries and cultures, Easter is a strange mix of rabbits, chickens, eggs and chocolates. This is of course because it is a mixture of fertility rituals from pagan religions. 

In Maastricht we often get the question from people who know us if we as a congregation celebrate Easter. Of course Easter always falls on a Sunday (unlike Christmas). So we always have a worship time on this special holiday. But we also try to explain how we celebrate this amazing occurrence (of Jesus’ resurrection) every Sunday. The rest of the spectacle we leave to others. 

It will be nice to know that we can talk to our kids again at a normal 6 hour difference instead of five hours. That means that we can eat dinner as they are eating lunch while we talk to one another. It also means that we will enjoy helping teach during the Vacation Bible Kamp planned for the Belgian kids (the Dutch do not yet have school vacation). And when the week is done, we will have jumped into the next season with verve. 

(This picture is of our Thankfulness Walk this past Saturday in Maastricht)