The early Christians didn’t believe that Easter was just one day. Easter was an entire season of feasting, a season that lasted for fifty days. It was supposed to trump Lent in length and intensity. We were supposed to celebrate the resurrection for that long.

But today, we observe Lent. We do our disciplines. Then we celebrate Easter on Sunday. We hunt for chocolate eggs and dress up. But by Monday morning, life goes back to normal.

Why don’t we observe the Great Fifty Days? I don’t think it’s because we don’t like parties, or we refuse to celebrate. I think we can’t celebrate for that long because we have forgotten how to sustain joy. We simply don’t know how.

Jesus did not appear just once after he died. He appeared over and over again, in different ways, over a period of forty days. On the fortieth day, his body was physically lifted up into heaven in front of the disciples. And on the fiftieth day, Jesus gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to inspire us so that we could continue to do God’s work in the world.

Resurrection is the heart and soul of Christianity. It is the reason we exist, the reason why a peasant who walked and taught along the shore of Galilee for three years and died on a cross might still be remembered today. Because he came back to us. He lives still.

The early Christians called the event of the resurrection the Mysterium Tremendum. The great mystery. It cannot be rationalized or broken down into sound bites. Our minds will never understand what happened. It can only be glimpsed through the stories that the disciples and others told about how Jesus returned and what he said to them.

~Excerpted from the Introduction to Resurrecting Easter: Meditations for the Great 50 Days by Kate Moorehead (Morehouse Publishing, 2013)

For each of the 50 days from Easter to Pentecost, we will post a scripture verse, a reflection by a clergy member, and a prayer from the book The Creation Care Bible Challenge, edited by Marik P. Zabriskie. Books are available through the Cathedral Bookstore & Gift Shop.

The posts will be available on the St. John's Cathedral Facebook page at 2 p.m. each day--and began Easter Sunday! If you are not a Facebook user, you can find the posts on our website: Just scroll down the home page to see the latest social media content.

Join us as we focus throughout the Easter season, during which Earth Day is observed, on the gift God has given us in our planet and natural surroundings, and on our role in their care.

Cathedral member Caroline Cozens is now on the ground in Ukraine, helping to rescue stranded pets and entire fur families. She volunteers with the Jacksonville-based nonprofit, Florida Urgent Rescue (F.U.R.), which is working with European rescues and shelters to help save animals in Ukraine.

Caroline says, “This is a huge problem, bigger than any organization can tackle, so we’re trying to help in any way we can. We are working to get injured dogs and cats out and to vet care.” Caroline says that getting pets across the Ukrainian border and into Poland is difficult. “Normally we would load up dogs and cats, and transport them to partner shelters. It’s trickier here due to vaccination and quarantine laws, ranging from three weeks to three months, before they can go to other countries.”

F.U.R. is actively helping get animals over the border, and also working on plans for the next step when quarantines are completed.

To Donate:

— Credit Card

— Venmo: @FloridaUrgentRescue

— Mail (This is a P.O. Box only, not a facility)

Florida Urgent Rescue

7643 Gate Parkway, #104-27

Jacksonville, FL 32256

Bruce Barcelo, a faithful member of our Cathedral, has for many years traveled back and forth to Ukraine to teach them about democracy. When the war began, he immediately got on his computer and basically hasn’t left the virtual world. He established a non-profit which has given more than one million dollars to assist the Ukrainian people.

An example Bruce cited during a recent conversation on Ukraine with Dean Kate: A woman whose business involved milking cows. Once the war began there was nowhere to export her milk so they gave her money to turn the milk into cheese. She gives the cheese away.

You can donate to the Committee for Open Democracy HERE.

A chance to meet and greet your SJC delegates will take place in Taliaferro Hall following the 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. services on Sunday, April 24. These delegates will be voting in the election of a new bishop next month.

It’s an opportunity to ask questions and discuss opinions ahead of May’s election, which will take place at St. John’s Cathedral.

A beloved annual tradition at St. John’s Cathedral, the Festal Choral Evensong in honor of St. George will be offered in-person and online. Join us Sunday, April 24 to celebrate the patron saint of England with Timothy Tuller, Canon for Music, the Cathedral Choir, Cathedral Brass, and the Jacksonville Pipes and Drums! The service will also be livestreamed on our YouTube Channel.

The Author Conversation with Dean Kate on May 1 will focus on the book Beyond Triathlon: A Dual Memoir of Masters Women Athletes, authored by Celeste Callahan, Dottie Dorion and Jane Hunt with a foreword by Sarah Springman.

Female students today never knew a time without Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which protects students from sex-based discrimination and exclusion in education programs or activities. It benefits all women, especially female athletes. This dual memoir recounts the lives of Celeste Callahan and Dottie Dorion, who were athletes before Title IX was passed. Callahan and Dorion were runners and triathletes who constantly battled gender norms and stereotypes. The memoirs of the two athletes’ oral and written accounts are stitched together to detail their journey through sport against societal standards and pressures.

Join us in the Cathedral Bookstore and Gift Shop. Books are available for purchase.

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Dottie’s artwork is also currently on display in Taliaferro Hall. Come take a look Sundays from 8 a.m. until Noon; Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Come learn more about how to help homeless families during Outreach Sunday, May 1, in Ingram Lounge beginning at 11:30 a.m. Family Promise of Jacksonville executive director Mark Landschoot will be the guest speaker.

Cathedral Park was the setting for last Sunday’s annual Easter Egg Hunt, and a swarm of youngsters found all of the approximately 450 brightly-colored orbs hidden amongst trees, bushes, and sometimes even in plain sight.

Some of the children even displayed their generous side, helping to re-hide a number of the eggs they’d found for younger kids who arrived a bit later.

If interested, contact Laura Eldredge