He's Alive!
I have always wondered why our pastor never greeted a 'Happy Easter', all these years, during the Sunday worship services (I will count today as 4th Easter) I have attended in my church. Just the same, I mumbled a 'Happy Resurrection Day' back to his chosen yearly felicitation each time. It is also worth mentioning that my youngest daughter had no great attachment to egg-hunting rituals, and can really have her spun sugar candy in any shape and form, anytime, so there goes another yearly reason for a cute party. And so, nothing much of Easter, as I knew it, is missed.
It turns out that Easter, as in many rituals we are all grown accustomed to, is of pagan origin, this commemorating the day of Eastre, a wiccan goddess of offspring and springtime, whose symbol, as you may have guessed, is the egg. And it is a movable feast that falls on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox, which absolutely has nothing to do with 'Easter' as defined by religion class in the Catholic school were I grew up in, even if it happens to fall on the same Sunday ending the Lenten season. However, the nuns probably hated to be the spoilsports so there came no explanation, whatsoever, on how eggs and bunnies became associated to the day commemorating Jesus' resurrection. Eventually of course, the eggs and bunnies became the bigger thing, I mean, don't we just love the unbearable lightness of fluff that those pastel easter colors bring, splashed all over department store windows, to gladden our celebration-hungry hearts?
Today, I will not miss out on the significance of the day. Jesus died on the cross, to bail us out from the penalty of our sins, and rose again from the dead, as evidenced by an empty tomb. That, as far as I know, is history's biggest, documented mystery, which nobody has ever, significantly, contested. And to what end He did, is the reason why my heart is filled to overflowing, in grateful gladness. Yes, my Redeemer lives! So that being said, there is nothing to stop me from celebrating now, is there? And a nice Japanese lunch and a nice movie, for me and my kin, would be a good way to go, today.
Happy Resurrection Day!
Filed Under: Life
It turns out that Easter, as in many rituals we are all grown accustomed to, is of pagan origin, this commemorating the day of Eastre, a wiccan goddess of offspring and springtime, whose symbol, as you may have guessed, is the egg. And it is a movable feast that falls on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox, which absolutely has nothing to do with 'Easter' as defined by religion class in the Catholic school were I grew up in, even if it happens to fall on the same Sunday ending the Lenten season. However, the nuns probably hated to be the spoilsports so there came no explanation, whatsoever, on how eggs and bunnies became associated to the day commemorating Jesus' resurrection. Eventually of course, the eggs and bunnies became the bigger thing, I mean, don't we just love the unbearable lightness of fluff that those pastel easter colors bring, splashed all over department store windows, to gladden our celebration-hungry hearts?
Today, I will not miss out on the significance of the day. Jesus died on the cross, to bail us out from the penalty of our sins, and rose again from the dead, as evidenced by an empty tomb. That, as far as I know, is history's biggest, documented mystery, which nobody has ever, significantly, contested. And to what end He did, is the reason why my heart is filled to overflowing, in grateful gladness. Yes, my Redeemer lives! So that being said, there is nothing to stop me from celebrating now, is there? And a nice Japanese lunch and a nice movie, for me and my kin, would be a good way to go, today.
Happy Resurrection Day!
Filed Under: Life
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