So, clergy and congregational leaders — Easter Monday is an official holiday still in parts of Europe, but sadly it never caught on in this country. Except among exhausted church leadership who have worked themselves to a frazzle over the last eight days and simply collapse in a heap somewhere around 3:30 pm on Easter Sunday and don’t want to stand erect until late in the day that follows.
But my question isn’t “do you catch up on your rest Easter Monday,” since we all know the answer is “probably not,” with folks in hospitals still needing a visit and the last twelve lilies not delivered like someone, you forget whom, said as the Sunday service was ending that they’d take care of (et cetera, ad nauseum).
What i’m wondering about is, given that religious leadership spend so much of Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and Egg Saturday and Resurrection Sunday “doing” worship, what devotional practice or re-centering approach do some of you use to celebrate the Easter we often kinda miss while everyone else is experiencing Easter?
Are there particular prayers you go to, books you pick up and read from (other than Luke 24), places you visit (in person or in your mind), retreat practices alone or with others, or anything else you do to “get your Easter on,” on Easter Monday?
I’d love to hear about in the comments what some of y’all do, so others of us can pick up some clues as we groggily recover from the excess of joy, programming, and sugar over these next few days. Plus i’d love to see Easter Monday be a recognized holiday . . .
NewsMuse 
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April 8, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Danny Bradfield
I’ve always been one to work ahead, not leaving things to the last minute, which means that I’m usually ready for Sunday by Thursday (Friday and Saturday being my days off). This week, I will work some on Friday, it being Good Friday and all, but Saturday will (hopefully) be a day of rest for me. I might go for a hike in the mountains, as I’ve done on previous “Egg Saturdays.” This will allow me to be somewhat rested (mentally) by Sunday morning, and not be (too) burned out by Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, with the size of my congregation, we will only have one service on Easter Sunday.
April 9, 2009 at 9:50 am
Bob Cornwall
Hey, I took much of Tuesday off, but no Easter Monday here — I have 3 meetings to go to Monday evening. But then we took off from most meetings in March, while journeying through Unbinding YOur Heart.
Busy week, though rest of the way forward!
April 10, 2009 at 9:13 am
Rebecca
I’m not pastoring a church, but I think what I’d do (yes, as a spiritual practice) is ”play.” It’s usually beautiful this time of year in the Midwest — flowers opening up, my garden coming alive on an almost-daily basis, and sometimes, even, sunshine! If so, I’d go outside, putter around, maybe even get out the sidewalk chalk and decorate the driveway.