EASTER - A TIME OF RENEWAL

Bettye Johnson ©

Renewal conjures up images of spring with daffodils and tulips in bloom along with the budding of the trees. After a winter of dreaming, the trees and perennial plants begin to awaken stretching their roots deeper into the soil and pushing upward to the sun. This past week has been delightful to walk around my property and observe the overnight changes. The trilliums in the woods have magically blossomed and I call these the fairy flowers. The hummingbirds returned a few weeks ago just as I putting out their feeder. Good timing! It is a time of celebration. It is as if they are a chorus of voices singing celebrate life.

Easter derives its name from an Anglo-Saxon pagan goddess name of Eostre also known as Eastre. She represents the goddesses of ancient Greece and Egypt and is known as the goddess of the dawn. The pagan celebration of Easter at the vernal equinox, which means day and night appear as equal length was to celebrate the birth of new life and colored eggs were used to signify this. In ancient Roman times the Romans believed all life came from an egg and used the egg in their rites. The colored eggs have always been used to celebrate this rite of celebration. The rabbit became a symbol because the rabbit or the hare represents fertility. Easter was and should be a celebration of life.

The early Christian fathers purloined this celebration and it became a celebration for the death of Jesus on a cross. There is no historical date as to the actual crucifixion (cruci-fiction?) of Jesus. He supposedly rose or as some say ascended on the third day. However, Christian tradition uses the pagan holiday and continues to set the date as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal spring equinox. Isn’t it hypocrisy to condemn pagans and still use their holidays?

It is a travesty that most Christians focus on Jesus dying on the cross for their sins because it absolves them on a subconscious level of taking responsibility. The Catholic practice of confession freed people of their misconduct and yet it didn’t change their behavior or their thinking. Today one only has to observe the continuation of the travesty. Rarely are the true teachings of Jesus taught or followed and we continue to have wars, hatred, prejudice, and bigotry as it has been for thousands of years. Most of the Christian depictions of Jesus have him hanging on the cross. Isn’t it time to take him down from the cross and pursue living what he taught?

The cross was a sacred symbol before the death of Jesus and it meant the something entirely different. As an example, the Celtic cross placed on a circle had an ancient meaning of being a measuring device and also that time is an illusion.

To honor Jesus and to love God doesn’t mean one has to be a Christian. Why not celebrate Easter as a celebration of life? Celebrate the life of all creation. Why focus on death and especially a death that happened over 2000 years ago? Isn’t it time to open the closed doors of the mind and allow laughter, love and joy to enter? The thoughts we have today manifest as our future. Each morning could begin with the renewal of our mind. Sickness and pain can be renewed into wellness and health. Lack can be renewed into I have. Sow seeds of abundance and allow them to bloom. There is a line from a song that says it very well, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.”