Easter - Personally

Image by Rdoke via Flickr

One should think that living in the Holy Land should be a dream come true for a Christian. Not exactly, no. Maybe if one lives in Jerusalem, in a Christian community or if you come with a mission or you are a pilgrim. Then, yes, Holy Land it is the ultimate Christian experience. Otherwise, for a humble, average, not very dedicated one like myself keeping up the faith is a difficult mission. No church to go when you fell like it, no Easter bunnies and definitely no egg dye. Actually, only here I came to miss the things related to tradition, things back in Romania I took for granted.
Never you mind, I learned to be flexible and to adapt. I have friends that are sending me dye and chocolate bunnies and what I cannot buy I can always make. But what about a church service? I usually watch it on TV or on the net, but if I want the real thing...it can be a bit difficult. The nearest church is in Jaffo, the greek orthodox one where there are services in Romanian, but usually during holy days the church is packed with people and sometimes it is impossible enter the church.
This year Maya's God parents came with an original idea: to go to Emmaus Nicopolis, near Latrun monastery. If you are not familiar with the place and its legend, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmaus_Nicopolis, you'll find information there. The place has today a beautiful church situated at the back of the archeological site. I have no idea what rite the church is, I know the service is hold in French, so it was good enough for me.
So, on a beautiful spring night I spend time with a community of worshipers I didn't know, prayed in a language I almost forgot and still, it felt so good! It felt like it should have, no dogmas, no meaningless rituals, just us and the Holy Spirit. And this is the real meaning of Easter, at least the way I got it. You keep your faith in your heart, you don't have to wear it on your sleeve. You pray because you want to, not because someone says so. Do more and speak less, something like this... Jesus died for our sins, He actually DID IT, so we got a second chance, didn't we? Well, we'll better not blow it this time...
Happy Easter!