ANN ROBSON: Easter: a Solemn Day Filled With Hope and Peace

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On this solemn holiday in Christianity, it seems appropriate to review our lives and the previous year.

Did we do even one thing to earn the gift of Easter?

No, not the chocolate treats and new outfits that we have purchased, not those gifts.

Did we help save a life, make someone’s life better, bring a smile to someone who needed one, show patience when we were impatient, hug a child who’d just infuriated us?

Did we look inward to see where we could improve our feelings for those with whom we disagree?

Did we listen to the Gospel narration of the Last Supper and Good Friday, or were we preoccupied with other thoughts during the long readings?

Did we see how these readings apply to our lives?

If we’d been lining the streets leading to Calvary, would we have been throwing stones or trying to lighten the dreadful burden of the man carrying the wooden cross?

If Pontius Pilate had asked us whom to set free, whom would we have chosen?

Has commercialism taken over these special days to such an extent that all our children and grandchildren care about is how much “stuff” the Easter bunny will leave? Where did the bunny idea come from? And chicks? And chocolate eggs? And plastic straw in every color of the rainbow? And baskets of all sizes?

Easter and spring are inextricably joined. The joy of new life in our bushes and trees is a wonderful feeling. It gives us personal hope, which was granted to us by the events of the first Easter and is restored each year at this holy time.

There are many days when we as individuals and as a society seem to have drifted far from the focus of both Easter and spring. We get so bogged down in living for the minute that we lose sight of the big picture. There is something mystical about watching a tulip burst forth and open its cup for no other reason than to share its beauty. The azaleas and dogwoods will radiate for our enjoyment. Spring has arrived to reassure us that there is an order to life and we have just been given yet another chance to wipe the slate clean.

Just smell the freshness of the air after a spring shower to fully appreciate that more than pine pollen has been washed away.

The tradition in Christian churches of all denominations is seen in the liturgy, the music and events special to each congregation. Some will have Holy Thursday services commemorating the Last Supper and events leading to Good Friday. Good Friday and Easter Sunday services will have common themes of redemption and resurrection. Some churches have special observances on Holy Saturday. These all began long before the introduction of the Easter Bunny and have infinitely more significance.

So many early Christian holidays were celebrated in conjunction with Jewish or pagan rites so that the Christians could avoid drawing attention to themselves. Every country has its ancient rites of spring, welcoming a new season of hope for a good harvest. Such celebrations provided cover for Christians observing Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In some places, early Christians took their observances underground to avoid persecution.

Now that we have a more enlightened world, with freedom of religion enjoyed in many places, the Christian Easter peacefully coexists with Passover and with nonsectarian celebrations of spring.

It really is a time first to repent, then to rejoice.