My Easter memories in Australia

Today I’ve found myself reflecting on Good Friday, the memories associated with it and why this day is so significant to me.

First things that come to mind…
Family
8am Good Friday church service
Cadbury Easter Eggs (not Hersheys )
Easterfest – The best Christian music festival I’ve been too.

Last night – as I was chatting to my family in Australia it was time for Good Friday lunch. (They are 15 hours ahead of me and can give me the lo-down on the next day before I get there! And Good Friday and Easter Monday are nationally recognised public holidays.) They had all just returned from their ‘Good Friday’ church service and were preparing to eat together as a family. We were skyping so they placed the laptop at the end of the table and chatted to me while I watched them eat their roast pork and veges. We’re not very Jewish!

In Australia, both Good Friday and Easter Monday are nationally recognised holidays. Even though Australia is a highly secular country, you would find a good number of Aussies would find themselves stepping into a church for an annual visit because it feels like the right thing to do or out of ‘obligation’ or to pay some sort of penance.

Australians identifying themselves as Christians has gone from 96.1% in 1901 to 63.9% in 2006. A high percentage of people are from Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran backgrounds and only go to church for religious holidays, weddings or funerals.

As a Christian, Easter is a time when I first, remember Jesus’ death on the cross to save me from my sins and I can only stand in awe of his great love for me. Why would someone die for me!?! Then I rejoice in Jesus’ victory over death as he rose again three days later. What a glorious thought that death now for followers of Jesus, is only the doorway into a glorious eternity with our Saviour!

What does this time of the year mean to you?