Tag: Easter

Easter: The Pagan Conspiracy

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Creepy EasterI meant to write this post in the weeks leading up to last Easter, but I’m afraid it completely slipped my mind. Unfortunately, this meant that when Easter Sunday rolled around and all the “Easter is a pagan festival!” comments started to appear on Facebook and on blogs, I was repeatedly forced to write some off-the-cuff comments in response, rather than having something prepared here to which I could link.

I was reminded that I had intended to do this post a couple of days ago while reading an article in the Telegraph. The article in question was talking about how the Church of England has plans to create a new Pagan church to attract new people . Inter-faith dialog is one thing, but this sounds like something quite different. I’m intrigued as to what this’ll end up looking like. We’ll just have to wait and see…

So, I know Easter Sunday has long since passed. In fact, Pentecost has also been and gone and we’re even nearing the end of the Apostles’ Fast. However, I’ve decided to write a quick blog entry here in preparation for next year so that when we’re in the run up to Easter I’ll be ready 🙂

A festival by any other name…

The main thrust of most the comments I saw this year was over the word “Easter” itself. It was pointed out, ad nauseam, that the word “Easter” is most likely etymologically related to the word “Eostre”, a Germanic deity from paganism. The “logic” goes that, since the word “Easter” has pagan roots, the celebration itself must also be pagan. Makes sense, right? Err….no.

I’ll admit that when I see such comments I get a little irritated because I don’t think they’ve really thought through what it is that they’re saying nor have they applied their position consistently.

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Good News on a “Good” Friday

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Today is “Good Friday”, considered “good”  because in Middle English the word refers to holiness and piety.

Remember, it is a day of abstinence, so no meat today. It is also a day of fasting, which means you are allowed only one full meal today and two small snacks. This is health permitting, of course. It is also only a requirement for those between the age of 18 and 59.

Husbands, *love* your wives

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Before we leave the Easter season,  I wanted to share with you something that stood out for me during the last days of Lent leading up to Easter Sunday. It was a slightly odd thing for me, being that it was the subject of marriage….

crown

How did I manage to get to the subject of “marriage” from the Easter celebrations? Well, what was running through my mind throughout the Easter liturgy was the last part of Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians:

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” – Ephesians 5:21-27

Now, without a doubt, this is a passage that has been abused over the years.  It has certainly been used for the subjugation of women and the preservation of tyrannical husbands. In response to this, many have rejected the entire passage out of hand. I don’t think either of these two positions is acceptable, since both reactions ignore the passage’s context and miss the important imagery being used by Paul.

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