Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter

Happy Easter.

I always thought Christianity did a poor job of selling its holiest day. Easter often seems like a distant second to Christmas. Christmas coincides on the Calendar (thanks to shrewd early church leaders) with the rest of the holiday season. Hard on the heels of Thanksgiving and with New Year's just around the corner, it's much more celebratory. The themes of birth, new beginnings, and celebration coincide much more naturally with a party. There are gifts for everyone, even that strange cousin you only see on Christmas. Christmas dinner recapitulates Thanksgiving with dressing, turkey, ham, sweet potatoes and more. Most if not all places are closed in observance of the holiday with a few days either way, providing a welcome break from work or school.

By many metrics, Easter compares poorly. Easter eggs and baskets filled with candy can never quite compete with wrapped presents under a tree. Easter is stranded weeks away from any other holidays, and if you grew up Catholic and in Louisiana as I did until my family moved to Texas, you'd be forgiven for believing that the real holiday comes six weeks before on Mardi Gras. The themes are more abstract and much more morbid in a literal sense. Death, crucifixion and resurrection do not have the happy natural associations of birth and new life. Many businesses and schools don't take off at all for Good Friday and Easter itself suffers from already being on a Sunday.

Yet there's really no comparison between the two. Christmas is a feast day wedged into the holiday calendar, December 25th chosen because it coincides with the old Roman/Mithraic holiday of Natalis Invicti and Christians needed a rival feast day to compete (for those of you keeping score, Mithras lost badly). Easter's day shifts because of its relationship with Passover, the last holy day celebrated by Jesus himself and the indirect origin of the Eucharist. Jesus' birth is a promise that has no context without the resurrection. The competition between Easter and Christmas for holiest day really isn't much of a competition at all. It's Easter by a mile.

Before James died, I thought very little about mortality. Although I was not much younger, I felt much younger. Life felt like it was just beginning. It doesn't feel that way anymore. What that means for religion is probably a separate post, but I find myself thinking more about Easter and what it means this year than I did before. Certainly more than Christmas. That's probably a good thing.

I hope all of you have a Happy Easter with your families. As always, thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

11 comments:

  1. Always thinking and praying for you guys. Thank you for always sharing your heart with all of us. You guys are loved!

    ReplyDelete
  2. We thought about y'all a ton this week. We know several families who celbrated last easter with their sweet babies and are without them this year. We continue to pray for yall's strength and peace. We can only imagine what a gloriuos Heavenly Easter sweet James celebrated today!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Our Pastor preached a wonderful sermon yesterday about "the 1st, 2nd and 3rd days". Good Friday is the 1st day, all is looking hopeless, Saturday is dark and painful, but Sunday comes and the Light of the World has risen! We are sometimes feeling like we are in day 1 and 2, but remember that Sunday is coming!
    I pray you will feel the light and love of Christ very soon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. such a cool post, Matthew! thank you for sharing that. You and Kara remain in our thoughts and prayers. overwhelming to think our baby sons were at the Lord's feet on our Holiest of days...beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Easter fulfills the hope we have! that this is not it....If you are a believer in what happened on that First Easter morn, that the Lamb of God walked out of that tomb....conquered death, and set us right with the Father, that we will have eternal life..This life here, is just preparation for eternity. Either with Christ or without....and what makes anything here bearable, Is that promise of being with the ones we love, forever.....Life is the dream...Heaven is the reality. May God Bless and keep you strong in His truth.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love how James' can still influence your life in such good ways.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've been following your story and have some peers from my hometown who are following a similar journey as yours. I thought you might be able to help them in some way, whether it regards faith or just advice.

    www.thepaulfamilyjourney.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. I couldn't agree with you more!! Still praying, hug each other close.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think of you guys so often and keep praying for you. I'm so glad you continue to update your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I just moved to Dallas and visiting the Dallas zoo yesterday. I was able to see Jamie the Giraffe. Thinking of your family during this time.

    ReplyDelete