Clearer on the Concepts

All during Lent I refrained from using disposable coffee cups. I usually buy coffee 3-5 times per week, so over the course of six weeks I figure I saved about 30 cups from going into a landfill somewhere. Seems like a good thing to me! So I decided to continue the practice post-Lent (which of course is part of the point).

At Caribou you save 50 cents for bringing in a reusable mug; at Dunn Brothers it's 25 cents; Starbucks is only 10 (come on, big S!). The other day I was in the mood for an egg biscuit at McDonald's (I know, I know), so I thought I would bring my mug in and see how it went. Sure, no problem, the (very) young man said. Before I could say anything else, he grabbed a disposable cup, filled it with coffee, poured it in my mug, and tossed the disposable. "There you go!" A classic case of being unclear on the concept.

As I continue to deepen my understanding of the historical, liturgical, ecclesiological, and theological richness of the Christian faith, sometimes I feel like a kid in a candy store, gazing wide-eyed and open-mouthed at all the wonders. At other times I feel more like a bull in a china shop, clumsy and ill-suited to navigate around the treasures. But most of the time I experience this journey as a gradual growth in clarity on the concepts.

Today is the octave of Easter - one of three feasts which is celebrated for eight days (Christmas and Pentecost are the others). My schedule was so busy (and I am so accustomed from my upbringing to only celebrating Easter on Easter Sunday) that I did not have or make much opportunity last week to celebrate. But - wonderfully - there's always next year, now that I am getting clearer on the concept. 

The "eight days" idea is actually pretty cool - eight days to observe, to reflect, to rejoice. I mean, if it's an important event, what's the rush? Modern western culture is always in a hurry. I remember being so amazed, when we visited B&J in South Africa, that the South Africans (the whites, anyway) take hours over their evening meals. I doubt ours is ever longer than half an hour. 

But the eighth day is also a "first day" - Sunday, first day of the week. There is an overlap that makes that day both an ending and a beginning. This is the kind of rich conceptual element in which I take so much pleasure! Jesus said "it is finished!" on the sixth day (Friday), and rested on the seventh (just as God finished his work of creation on the sixth day and rested on the seventh). On the first day (Sunday) Jesus rose from the dead, but it also was an eighth day, because the resurrection marked the end of death forever. The following Sunday (the eighth day, today!) Jesus appeared to his disciples and ended their waiting and wondering. But it also is a first day, because He did something new: he breathed on them, gave them the Holy Spirit and the power to forgive and retain sins (John 20:19-23).

Every Sunday we rest; every Sunday we are renewed and restored to begin again. The last and first day. What a concept!