On Easter we went to Cedar Ridge Community Church again for the 11:00 service. It was really good. There was a rockin’ version of “Christ The Lord Is Risen Today,” the Charles Wesley classic. The whole service was a celebration, a joyful celebration of the resurrection. It made an impression.
The contrast to the Mormon celebration of Easter was stark. On Mormon Easter, it’s business as usual. The hymns will be easter classics, probably “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” and “He Is Risen.” Some of the more old-fashioned women will wear a fancy dress. Jesus and the Atonement, but maybe not the Resurrection, will get mentioned (or at least acknowledged) in each talk. But it won’t be substanitvely different. There might be a special musical number. If you’ve been very, very bad, there will be a Jesus-themed primary program.
But for the most part, it will be virtually indistinguishable from any other typical Sacrament Meeting. Sunday School will follow the usual curriculum, although the teacher might bear extra testimony of Jesus Christ at the end. I’m pretty sure Priesthood Meeting won’t be any different, but I probably wouldn’t pay attention anyway.
Easter certainly won’t disrupt the Mormon pattern. The first Sunday will be fast and testimony meeting, regardless of Easter. The priesthood/relief society curriculum will still follow the usual pattern: every other Sunday is a lesson from the”Teachings of [some modern prophet]” manual. The others will be out of conference talks or the EQ presidency (i.e.,the official monthly “do your home teaching guilt trip”).
Growing up Mormon, Easter was never really anything more than a day we got a basket full of candy in the morning. Sweet! Candy! The religious significance never got more than lip service.
It’s like Mormons are too busy with the rhythms and customs of the Church to really celebrate the most important event in Christianity. In fact, this year our stake had Stake Conference on Easter. because they had to call a new stake president. That’s right; an administrative concern trumped the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Oddly enough, when Christmas falls on a Sunday, they often only have Sacrament meeting, and it is heavily Christmas-themed. Which is funny, since Mormons specifically disbelieve that Christmas was Jesus’s birthday anyway.
Sailing to Byzantium 
Yes, Easter is a very/most important celebration in Christianity, in my opinion. I still have some leftover joy from this past Sunday and a bit of saddness due to the fact that the celebration is over 😉
Thank you for your posts, by the way 🙂
This was spot on all the way down to the hymns that were sung at our ward on Sunday. I’m not a member anymore, and not much of a believer of anything these days, but the Mormon way of doing Easter sucks! Where’s the celebration? For a Christian, it’s the most significant day in history. Why do Mormons suck so much?
I tried pointing some of this out to my TBM wife. Didn’t play too well. She just pointed out that the atonement is taught all year long. Talk about a lame excuse for making Easter suck.
Yeah, that’s pretty weak.
I am, as you know, SO on the same page with you on this one. I’m still irked beyond belief that Mormons poo-poo Easter. I’ve got to stop losing sleep over this shit, though. It just isn’t worth it, is it? Still…