Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox. As complicated as that sounds, it had made sense for years, since it means Easter coincides with the greening of the earth. Christ is risen, and the whole world seems to echo this good news, as it comes back to life. The sap is running, the birds are back from the south, including the human variety known as snowbirds, and the trumpet lilies scent the air in our homes and churches. It is a happy connection, as our spirits rise with the warming and greening of the earth, renewing our faith in the creative power of God.
Spring is entirely natural.
Dry looking flower bulbs planted last fall looked like dried out onions with their brown skins and scraggly white roots. Come springtime and the dried out onion looking bulb will reach through the cold ground as the temperatures warm, and burst forth in a display of red or purple or yellow or white or pink. As wonderful and seemingly miraculous as it is, it is completely natural. Given the right conditions, the bulb will bloom after the long winter. Resurrection, on the other hand, is entirely unnatural.