This Holy Week, we’ve been sharing daily devotionals from pastors and church workers who were with you in experiencing all of the joys, stresses, and spiritual significances of Holy Week.

Today, on the last day of Holy Week, we at Sparkhouse want to join the conversation. As we look ahead to Easter tomorrow, we’re reminded of what Easter means to us, including the memories that this holiday stirs and  the traditions we look forward to. In doing so, a few of our employees wanted to share what Easter means to them:

I’ve taken too little time over the years to reflect on what Easter means to me. Mostly because I am so wrapped up in the doing of Lent and Easter in my church, my home, and even on the job. On top of this, Easter is such an elusive holiday in that it moves around from year-to-year according to lunar calendar. First Sunday, after the first full moon, after the vernal equinox. Bingo. Easter!

So, is Easter early this year? Is it late? These questions set the rhythm for the first few months of my year.

But perhaps the moveable aspect of this Feast Day is what keeps Easter fresh. Unlike Christmas—always on December 25—Easter offers an element of surprise. It challenges my set patterns. Every year Easter forces me to encounter it differently. Because I can never attach a specific date to Easter, it really is all about the surprise that the empty tomb perpetually offers. Not just on this day, but that day too.

And how about today? Easter is elusive like that. Elusive in a good way. In a God way. Easter, the Movable Feast, reminds me of the liveliness of God’s grace in the risen Christ. Grace which now lives, and moves, and has its being in me! -- David Schoenknect, Demand Generation Representative

Easter to me has always meant something new. As a child I always noticed when the paraments and vestments, or banners as I referred to them, changed in the sanctuary. I would watch every year as the alter was stripped of its deep purple on Maundy Thursday and be amazed to return on Easter Sunday to spectacular gold and white.

I always look forward in anticipation to the music on Easter Sunday. After weeks of slower, somber hymns and anthems, Easter is filled with the bright sounds of brass choirs, all the stops pulled out on the organ, and voices singing “Alleluia!”

Easter also signals the impending arrival of spring. With spring comes new life in flowers, grass, and green leaves. With Easter comes new life in Christ. --Elissa Zoerb, Marketing Specialist

Sunrise.

Creation's sign of the beginning of each day and my favorite reminder of how Christ makes me new each day. I love to experience sunrises and have a lot of early morning images on my cell phone.

But one pre–cell phone image is imprinted in my head and heart.

It is a collage of Easter morning sunrises from the top of the hill in back of The First Presbyterian Church in Mendham, New Jersey that overlooks the cemetery. My childhood faith community celebrated Easter morning with one outdoor ecumenical service before we separated for our five denominational worship traditions.

No matter the weather, singing, reading, praying, and praising together was always worth getting up extra early for—this only happened one day a year! As we stood huddled together, my eyes would wander to the sun, trees, fields, and the many graves. Signs of death and signs of life. Of the cross, and of the resurrection. Signs first experienced as a child that remain as signs along my faith journey today. -- Deb Hetherington, Senior Account Manager & Resource Developer

Growing up in a Christian home, my parents did their very best to persuade my brothers and I into not caring about Easter baskets because the true meaning lies within celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Which is exactly what the focus should be on! But when I was a kid, Easter really only meant one thing: Easter baskets.

I would anxiously await the night before hoping to wake up to a decorative woven basket filled with bunny-shaped chocolate, jellybeans, tasteless marshmallow Peeps that for some reason I couldn’t stop eating, all neatly placed on top of that pastel-colored crinkle shredded tissue. And as an adult I’m not going to lie – I still secretly wish a surprise Easter basket would magically appear on my nightstand. -- Kelly Barnes, Marketing Specialist 

Thank you for taking the time this week to reflect on Holy Week! Blessings this Easter season and you reflect on what Easter means to you.