The early church chose to worship on a Sunday, rather than on the Jewish Sabbath, because it was the day of the resurrection; so every Sunday is an Easter celebration of the resurrection. If that is to have any meaning, every Sunday should remind us of the past and future significance of Easter, as we recall the death and resurrection of Jesus, and pray for the full purpose of Easter to be achieved as his kingdom comes "on earth as it is in heaven". More than any other act of worship, the Eucharist (the word means thanksgiving) is the quintessential Sunday/Easter service as we celebrate God's gift to us: "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again".
Next month, at Pentecost, we are reminded of what is perhaps the most important consequence and follow-up to Easter: the giving and receiving of the Holy Spirit; but as we prepare for Pentecost, there are many other post-Easter themes for us to think about, from "feed my sheep" (John 21), which is presumably intended to have a much wider scope than either normal food or sharing in the Eucharist, to "he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread" (Luke 24), which may be more than just a statement of what actually happened, and be intended to encourage us to regular participation in the Eucharist. There is however one follow-up to Easter, integral to every Sunday service, that we should all know and practice, but which so easily seems to be forgotten.
This important part of Jesus teaching is repeated several times in different ways. It is important enough to feature in the Lord's Prayer and in one of the 'words from the cross'. It is a precondition for our prayers, should be practised repeatedly, and the consequences of not remembering to do it are dire. It is the essential companion to Jesus' 'new commandment' to love one another; and to fail to do it can grieve the Holy Spirit of God.
I hope you have already identified the obvious: forgiveness of others. In Matthew's account of Jesus' teaching on prayer, not only are we told to pray "forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors", but, in case we missed the point, Jesus underlines it: "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
Our forgiveness is not to be conditional on the 'other person' saying sorry. On the cross, Jesus prays "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." Nor should our forgiveness be limited. When Peter asked "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus replied, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. Again Jesus hammers the point home, telling the story of the wicked slave, who failed to forgive as he had been forgiven. The story ends: "In anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt." Jesus concludes: "So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart." The trouble is that although we all know this, and know that forgiveness should be the hallmark of church life, and our love for each other the characteristic that proves that we are God's people (John 13.35), all too often we meet Christians who tell us of some hurt (sometimes deep but not infrequently slight) done to them that they cannot possibly forgive. Of course, as we are all sinners, we are all liable to fall into the sin of being unforgiving; what is important is that we recognise an unforgiving spirit for what it really is: a sin.
Not only is the failure to practice lavish forgiveness a sin, it is a sin serious enough to grieve the Holy Spirit. As the letter to the Ephesians reaches the high point of its argument, and just before the practical application in church and personal life begins, we get a wonderful passage summing up our response to what God has done for us in Christ.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us.
Yours in Christ,
Richard
P.S. If you want to check this out for yourselves read Matthew 5, 6 & 18; Mark 11; Luke 6, 11, 17, & 23; Ephesians 4 & 5; and Colossians 3. I suggest you read whole chapters. This is always better than taking a verse out of context. (Quotations are from the NRSV).