I don't know why, but I'm definitely feeling some "shoulds" this morning. Like I should be going to church this morning. Like I should be "feeding myself spiritually," as my father is unhesitant to remind me. Like I should be celebrating Easter today.
[As an aside to no one in particular, I think of "shoulds" like rules or even the Law, as given in the Old Testament. They are prescriptive, telling someone how to live. Rules or laws, by their very nature, have consequences if they are not followed; do this or else. Otherwise, they wouldn't be rules or laws, yes?
I think of the "good news" of the New Testament as descriptive, describing to someone how they might live. There is an implied choice; you may do this or you may not. The choice is yours.
I rarely use the word "should" in my vocabulary for that very reason.]
But I am doing none of these things. I don't know how I'm feeling exactly about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from death on a cross. Ambiguity, for sure. Guilt, for sure. Mule-ishness, for sure. (Who wants to be pushed and manipulated into something as private and personal as worship?) And ... as I think about it, how much of this is really about my faith in Jesus? Or is this ambiguity (and anger?) really directed at organized religion and its general failure to embrace lesbians and gays as children of God and full members in the body of Christ?
Well, those are questions I will leave for now and just post interesting facts, cool stuff about Easter. Most of this is from the site, How Stuff Works:
Easter is the Christian observance of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his resurrection days later. It is the central festival of the Christian church and, after the Sabbath, it is the oldest Christian observance.One of the things that I have come to appreciate in my mid-life is that Easter is based upon the moon. Ahh, the old moon, wise and silent as she is, forever cycling around, as we live our lives.
Easter's Date
Unlike festivals such as Christmas, Easter has been celebrated without interruption since New Testament times. The dates of all movable feasts are also calculated around the date of Easter. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica:
...western Christians celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the full moon (the paschal moon) that occurs on or next after the vernal equinox on March 21. If the paschal moon, which is calculated from a system of golden numbers and epacts and does not necessarily coincide with the astronomical full moon, occurs on a Sunday, Easter is the following Sunday.
The U.S. Naval Observatory's Astronomical Applications Department says that Easter is determined by the "ecclesiastical moon" as defined by church-constructed tables to be used permanently for calculating the phase of the moon. This full moon doesn't necessarily coincide with the astronomical full moon, which means, Navy researchers say, that Easter is not necessarily the very next Sunday after a full moon. It could be the next Sunday after the ecclesiastical moon. This happened in 1876.
How do you say...?
The origins of the names for the Easter holiday vary slightly. "Easter" and "Ostern" derive from Eostre. Other names are derivative from the Jewish word for Passover, Pesach.
* English: Easter
* German: Ostern
* Greek: Pascha
* Spanish: Pascua
* Italian: Pasqua
* French: P?ques
* Portugese: P?scoa
* Dutch: Pasen
* Danish: Paaske
These calculations say that Easter can fall between March 22 and April 25. This was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 as part of the Gregorian calendar.
During New Testament times, the Christian church celebrated Easter at the same time as the Jews observed Passover. (The first of Passover's eight days is Nissan 15 on the Jewish calendar. Passover observes the flight and freedom of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.) By the middle of the second century, Easter was celebrated on the Sunday after Passover. The Council of Nicaea decided in 325 A.D. that all churches should celebrate it together on a Sunday.
The Eastern Orthodox church may celebrate Easter up to a month later, as its calculation of the date is based on the Julian calendar, which is currently 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. In 1865 and 1963, Easter observance in both Eastern and Western churches coincided.
In some countries, Good Friday and the Monday after Easter are national holidays. In the United States, these two days are not federal holidays and observance varies from state to state.
Did you see the moon last night? or the night before that? Incredibly big and bright and brilliant! She, too, is celebrating the turning of the seasons and the return of spring!
I don't sound like much of a Christian, do I? More like a pagan who used to dabble in Christianity? I can't get away from or discount nature and our relationship to it. I appreiate the moon and I can imbue the moon with all kinds of symbolism and meaning in my life, just as the early Christians imbued Jesus with all kinds of messianic symbolism and importance.
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