Three Things a Pastor's Wife Should Remember at Easter

Spring is here in many parts of the country. In my town, daffodils have bloomed and have now faded. Azaleas and flowering dogwood trees show off their spring splendor. Vegetation is waking from dormancy. It is a time to welcome the end of winter and look forward to the coming warmth. It seems as if the creation joins us in reflecting the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Life returning to apparently dead landscaped mirrors the spiritual reality of new life in Christ. For Christians, it is a time to celebrate what some believe is the most important holiday of the year, Easter.

In some churches, Easter is the culmination of Holy Week. Perhaps your church gathered palm branches to wave on Palm Sunday. Other churches add Maundy Thursday services or Good Friday observances. All will commemorate Easter. This week can be a busy time in the liturgical calendar. Families enjoy worship in their new Easter outfits: dresses with flowers and bows for girls, polished shoes and crisp shirts for the boys. Families might take photos to remember the holiday. Some gather several generations around a beautiful table covered with the same traditional foods enjoyed in Easters past. During your busy preparations, take a few minutes to read this list of three things a pastor’s wife should remember during the Easter season.

1. Join me in reclaiming the holiday for Christ

Discover some ways to remind your family of the resurrection. One older friend has passed down the custom of baking a two-layer chocolate cake with a hollowed-out portion representing the empty tomb. A cookie propped up next to the “tomb” represents the stone the angel rolled away. Her children, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren look forward to eating the cake and hearing familiar Scriptures about that glorious morning. Read Matthew 28 with joy and wonder. Hear these words:

“He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.”(Matthew 28:6)

Your family may have other Easter traditions that don’t specifically point to the resurrection. Go ahead because family traditions are essential for building cohesion and continuity. My adult children now want me to prepare a “bunny salad,” which they remember my mother-in-law serving at Easter when they were little. A simple fruit salad becomes a resting rabbit with the help of half a pear, sliced almonds for ears, raisins for eyes, and of course, a marshmallow tail. Some of us will boil expensive chicken eggs for our children to decorate. Others will hide these or plastic eggs for the little ones to find. Many in Eastern Europe decorate eggs because this tradition reminds them of new life in Christ. Easter eggs become symbols of a spiritual reality.

2. Pause during this season to reflect on the death of Christ for you

Some churches have a Good Friday service to enable their people to slow down and recognize the sacrifice of Christ for their sin. In the Old Testament, God required His people to bring a daily sacrifice for their sins. Once a year, the children of Israel observed the Day of Atonement, a time of solemn assembly and contemplation of the corporate sins of the people (see Leviticus 16). It will be good for your soul if you have a similar time of reflection.

Try the following exercise. Consider specific sins you have committed (doing what you should not have done), including sins of omission (not doing what you know you should have done). Confess these sins to the Lord. Think about the physical, spiritual, and emotional suffering your Lord endured for those sins. Offer a prayer of thanksgiving for the perfect Lamb of God, given for you. Contemplate this verse:

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”2 Corinthians 5:21

End with a reading of the Easter story.

3. Be mindful of reaching the lost for Christ

Along with Christmas, Easter is when many will decide they need to be in church. Some churches may hold a special event on Easter morning to make visitors feel welcome. Our church hosts a brunch between services. Because unsaved people might be joining your services, your husband is probably preparing a sermon with a clear presentation of the gospel. For years, our church had the same visitor at the Easter service, the sister of one of our members. Easter was the only time we saw her. She heard many sermons about the true meaning of the holiday. One year, she came back the following Sunday! And the week after that! Eventually, she came to know Jesus and “the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10).

Watch for visitors who may not feel comfortable in a church. You, as the pastor’s wife, can play a role in kindly exemplifying the truth that Christ died for sinners. You don’t need to have perfect children in perfect outfits to say, “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”(2 Corinthians 6:2b)

If you have prepared for Easter by thinking of your sin and your need of a Savior, you will be equipped to lead another humbly to Christ. You can say with the apostle Paul, “To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light … to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:22-23). Without the resurrection, we have no good news to share with others. “And if Christ had not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). We can rejoice in the marvelous gift of salvation.

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

©2023 Caroline Newheiser. All rights reserved. Used with permission.