At the beginning of every year the local news shows complain about how early bakeries start selling hot cross buns, some of them straight after Christmas. Many commenters feel early sales take away from how special they are to the occasion of Easter.
The important issue is not so much the early sales of hot cross buns, but the season they commemorate: if Easter is the most important event on the Christian calendar, why is it we only hear of it during a couple of predetermined months of the year?
I mean, you won't often hear an Easter sermon around the middle of year or a Christmas message in autumn, despite the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus being the most important events to us.
A regular reminder
However, there is one event held at more regular intervals and it gives us a chance to contemplate Jesus' suffering, and this is very valuable to us as Christians. This event is Communion.
Don't let the set dates on the calendar, or a Sunday be the only time we consider Christmas and Easter. We all know there is great joy in the stories associated with these two events and great meaning too, so we should make sure we consistently come back and remember them.
An event for the future
There's one more critical event for us to consider, and this is the return of Jesus. On top of remembering His birth, death and resurrection, we should pay special attention to Jesus' return as there are many signs pointing to the end of the age right now throughout the world. As times get tougher and tougher nearing this date, we should be longing more and more and waiting eagerly for Him to return.
So what's the conclusion of the matter? I've mentioned a couple of events we should take some time out of our week to think about, but when faced with this challenge the vast population would no doubt struggle to maintain this over a period of time.
So instead of writing up a checklist of events to remember on each day of the week—such as Easter, Christmas and Jesus' return—make an effort to spend some time to honour what Jesus went through for us, and consider how this should impact the way we live our lives.
Tim Robertson is from Sydney, and likes to write about recent learnings in the hope that other people may also benefit from them.
Tim Robertson's previous articles may be found at www.pressserviceinternational.org/tim-robertson.html