I've been thinking about the Church's calendar recently. I remember my old Pastor telling me that he preached Christmas one Sunday a year and Easter for all the rest!?
And yet, especially in our Biblically illiterate age, isn't it good to 'teach' the Christian calendar? For example, Good Friday is a day when we particularly reflect on the death and suffering of Jesus; whereas Easter day is all about the resurrection. Likewise a case could be made for Pentecost (the Holy Spirit) and Harvest (God as Creator), simply to weave the key aspects of Christian doctrine into the regular pattern of our lives and worship.
I don't think I'd ever want to be tied down into a formal lectionary throughout the year but I am coming round to thinking that some regular theological rythymn to the year would be a good thing.
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Funny you should mention this - our family had a conversation about this on the way home in the car yesterday. Jacob had so much fun celebrating Easter, he wanted to know if we could also celebrate Ascension and Pentecost!
Yes, I am tending to think this way myself. It might be more of a rebellion against extremes of pietism and 'regulative-principle-ism' I am running into.
I think the postmodern interest in signs should help us start to take seriously the idea that it is not only the things that we say which teach people, but also the things that we do. (What do the people of Israel learn about sin and forgiveness, for example, from watching the sacrificial system in action? Yes, they need a word to interpret, but does the sign not teach them something, too?)
Apart from the way that such symbolism has clearly got out of hand in certain Christian traditions (and has mouldered away thoughtlessly in others), I can see two difficulties in Sydney which we might need to take into special consideration:
(1) the inversion of the seasons, relative to the Northern Hemisphere (it seems bizarre to be celebrating 'new life' as one heads into Winter), and;
(2) the near-total dislocation from the natural environment. I grew up on a farm, but even I felt completely out of touch with the 'cycle of life' when living in Sydney. Those who have grown up in an urban environment often have no idea about where food comes from, or any sense of relying on God's provision (and hence being thankful for it). I was frustrated yesterday that the supermarket was closed and I couldn't get any crumpets :P
Thanks Stuart, I've been thinking those things too.
In secular Petersham Public School we have the 'hat parade' and bunnies seem to be the pervasive image of Easter. Leaving aside the blatant attempt to replace Christian imagery Emily and I have commented on how bizarre it is from a seasonal perspective!
In the UK, as you say, Easter means spring - hence baby chicks, frollicking lambs and bunnies. But here in Oz it's Autumn!
Therefore maybe the key is to base the pattern around biblical events rather than seasonal patterns?
I suppose you won't always be able to draw a wedge between them, though, since the Bible festivals are typically linked to saving events *and* seasonal events (something we lose when we hyper-spiritualize salvation and forget God's provision for us in all our life). Your Pentecost-Shavuot-harvest example was what I had in the forefront of my mind :)
Apart from Easter (the word encompasses in my mind both Friday and Sunday), ascension, Pentecost, and Christmas, do you have others in mind?
Yes, I had thought of harvest being seasonal.
No, I hadn't thought of more than your list.
I was thinking maybe of looking for the rhythym of life in modern urban society - for example the terms of school or Uni. Just a thought.
Before we talk about celebrating other dates in the Christian calendar more tangibly (interesting though the idea is), perhaps we should discuss the naming of the festival we have just celebrated. I find it difficult to understand why a Christian festival is named for a pagan deity. There might be historical reasons, but these must have long ceased to be relevant.
What about renaming Easter to, for instance, “Paschaltide” (the Latin “pascha” being derived, I believe, from the Hebrew word for Passover)? As it happens, “pascha” is already used as the basis for the name of the festival in a number of languages. Of course I am open to other suggestions!
It’s just a small way of being different – of seeing this time of year as about the reality of the risen Lord, and not (first and foremost!) about chocolate, non-existent bunnies and school hat parades.
Greg
(Wow! I didn't realise Easter was so popular all of a sudden!)
Just to play devil's advocate here a bit Greg - why is it so terrible that Easter (like Christmas) was originally a pagan festival?
We're not talking about syncretism here, but a wholesale take over. Whatever name we give it the most important thing is that we imbue that name with wholely Christian imagery.
I don't think the problem today is that people think about German gods when they hear 'Easter' but that they have become completely secular - i.e. chocolate, bunnies and hats.
One advantage of renaming it might be to separate the Christian festival from the surrounding culture's pagan festival.
Some of my (Muslim) students asked me what was the deal with the rabbits and eggs, and I explained that there were two different traditions (Christian and pagan).
They were surprised when I said that England is not a Christian country. I can't imagine what view they must have of Christians if they think Christmas and Easter (as celebrated by most Britons) are Christian festivals!
I think the problem is not so much that Easter was originally a pagan festival (after all, it’s a bit too late to do anything about that!); it’s more, as Stuart said, about separating the Christian from the secular in terms of how we do things. In other words, of being – and looking – different.
The term “Easter” for most contemporary Australians means some combination of long weekend, hot cross buns (at least they have a cross on them!), Easter eggs/bunnies, Royal Easter Show, etc. If we use the term “Easter” to refer to the Christian festival, I think we need to accept that the majority of the population will assume that we mean by it much the same as they do i.e. a sugar-hit holiday weekend, as against the solemn and joyous celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
I think Christmas is a bit different, in that:
The Name is the same as
The reason for the season!
Greg
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