I grew up as an occasional church-goer, with my parents falling in and out of the habit periodically, but always going without fail on Maundy Thursday, Christmas Eve, and Easter. To this day I still feel like I'm getting away with something by not going to church on those days, even though I haven't been to church in years, and haven't been to church and meant it in a whole lot of years.

Still, I will say that Easter was always the day I least minded going. Part of it was that it seems like the whole town showed up that day, so it was more of a social event. Part of it was that it was a really happy day to go--because it was symbolically the start of spring, because of the Easter Bunny's visit, and because the message of the day was also the happiest of the Christian calendar. Mostly, though, I think it's because it was the one time of the year that the Beallsville UM Church was guaranteed to play my favorite hymn, "He Lives" (words, music). For some reason or no reason, I got to thinking about that song for the first time in years today, and it still makes me feel really happy, maybe because of nostalgia, or because of the music itself, or for some other unfathomable reason. Unfortunately iTunes doesn't have a version that does the song justice in my mind, but maybe it's better that I still think of a small choir and a small congregation grown large for one day a year, belting out a song of affirmation, joy, and uplift.