I could not possibly let this Sunday go by without telling all of you, who continue to read this little section of the newspaper, that I hope your Easter will be a beautiful one.

And why shouldn’t it be? It’s spring. Everything is once again in bloom. For some reason, nature appears prettier on this particular day. As if everything is brand new. Like everything is going to be alright.

Easter just gives us that feeling — like the world is a little more beautiful today than on any other day of the year.

Yes, this holiday does bring up a few depressing, personal reminders for me. But I will never let that keep me from recognizing the importance of the day. I will not allow that to keep me from being grateful for the reason why we celebrate. Again, I don’t really know how a rabbit, eggs and candy became the makeup for Easter. I even tried Googling the answer, being told it was a mixture of European folklore from the 1800s, pagan rituals and Christian traditions. Now, I’m all for adorable bunnies and chocolate, but it seems to distract from the focus of what Easter should truly be about. And once in a while, we tend to forget that. Or we remember but don’t really care.

I recall years ago, when I used to attend church every week, how there were people who only went to services on Easter and Christmas. CEOs as they’re referred to — Chrismas and Easter Only. I, myself, have been a CEO.

I remember one Easter Sunday I was the lay leader for the morning’s church service — the person who sits beside the preacher, recites a couple of Bible verses, reads from the bulletin and begins the hymnal introduction before taking a seat in the congregation. It’s a quick and painless process. One I really enjoyed doing. But this day … this particular day was different. This was Easter. And I had something I wanted to say. I needed all of the members and non-members in the congregation who were dressed in their very best Easter attire and going through the motions of being at church for the holiday, to understand just what this day should mean.

Every seat in every pew was taken. After all, most of the CEOs were in attendance and I had a very large crowd on hand to listen to what I wanted to say. I wish I could tell you I have every line of every paragraph memorized. But it was so long ago that I can’t seem to even recall a single line word for word.

As I stood to deliver what should have been the call to worship in the church bulletin, I instead unfolded a piece of paper from my hands.

I reminded those paying attention how we, as a church, have stood and applauded a job well done by the bell choir and the church choir. I informed them I had been among the audience who rose to their feet and clapped for the children who had worked so hard on their Christmas program. But never once did I recall a time when we stood and expressed our appreciation to Jesus. Not one time had we given that same form of gratitude to the one who literally died for us.

I stood at the podium and in a nutshell, explained to them that if Jesus rising from the dead on that third day didn’t deserve a standing ovation, then I did not know what else ever possibly could.

And to my amazement, they stood. They stood and applauded Jesus, thanking him for being willing to give his life so that we might live for eternity. To recognize his rising from the dead on that third day. They clapped for what seemed to be several minutes of sincere gratitude.

And that is far better than any chocolate-covered bunny will ever be. Happy Easter.

(Stenger can be contcted at jstenger@heraldstaronline.com.)