In England today there are chocolate eggs and rabbits. In France the church bells are silent as the bells of St Peter’s fly to the children, tied with ribbons and flowers. Across the world images that combine the Christian and the older pagan festivals of spring and rebirth abound, hijacked by a consumerism that somehow forgets the sacredness of both. Yet today, for once, the shops are closed.
For those who follow a pagan path this season is one of the renewal of life after the darkness of winter, a time for the rebirth of the sun, the exuberance of spring. In the fields young lambs gambol and play; birds are busy with nest building… even the kites are flying over with their beaks full. A grey and cloudy day cannot dull the blaze of green and gold that is an English spring. For those who follow the path of Nature, confirmation of their belief is all around. You can feel it in the woods and on the hills, in field and valley… everything is bursting into life.
For those who follow the Christ, this is the holiest season, the time when Jesus, crucified and entombed, rose again. It is on this event that the Christian faith is based. That in purely literal and physical terms this is not possible makes it a miracle, something beyond the understanding of logic and science, and it is this that forms the foundation of faith; that knowing of the soul that goes beyond reason. There is no confirmation in the world around us, there is no objective proof, no comfortable reassurance. You simply accept the teachings of the Church or you do not… or you feel Truth in your heart and that is enough, regardless of logic, teaching or dogma.
Faith… not religion… is a very personal thing, an intimate thing, and none among us has the right to judge the faith of another, to discount or degrade it, to ridicule or dismiss. It sings to heart and soul. It is the personal relationship between the innermost being and the Highest, however we choose to name or conceive of It. There is a purity in true faith that shines and radiates, no matter what religion, path or denomination shapes the outer form. Faith is always a thing of the inner world, regardless of the way it manifests in the outer realm in which we live.
There are many who were raised within a nominally Christian society who accept its teachings without question in childhood, when the impossible is perfectly feasible, and it is no more challenging to believe in Resurrection than it is to believe in fairies or dragons. There is beauty and comfort in a faith that shows a way to live that is based on love and which has love at its ultimate blessing. There is comfort too in the knowledge that there is no loss of self after death… only believe and follow the tenets of that faith and you will be with the Father in Heaven.
There are those too who come to their faith through living, growing into it gently, or through pain, or with the lightning flash of personal revelation, finding within it the answers to the questions of the soul.
Continue reading at The Silent Eye
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Well, in SOME places today it’s matzah (even if it has to be imported from the wilds of darkest Yorkshire). I wonder if they have Kosher for Passover chocolate bunnies…
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Yorkshire? No better place on earth 😉
There must be Kosher bunnies, surely… if not, the world has disappointed me. Not that I even tasted chocolate this Easter… 😦
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What? NO CHOCOLATE? Isn’t that some kind of anti-British heresy? I’m pretty sure you could be sent to the Tower for that one.
(I am, however not nearly so sure that a kosher food manufacturer ever said, “Ou vey! We should make chocolate Easter bunnies…”)
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I know. Dereliction of duty or something.
( And I think that spring bunnies might cut it ;))
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Happy Easter Sue 🐣🐇
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❤
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Thanks, Michael 🙂
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Happy Easter! 🙂
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Happy Easter, Linda 🙂
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Pingback: Easter | Linda Bradley
It was Easter that made us join a church. I’m not Christian and Garry was not really enthusiastic about any church, but when I asked my granddaughter was Easter meant, she said “painted eggs and chocolate.” I felt a little basic religious education was in order. She could reject it or accept it or ignore it, but she needed to at least know what it was about.
For me, it really does mean spring. The flowers are coming up, finally and the ants are a clear reminder that many things are born in spring … not only flowers 🙂
I miss Passover. In the U.S., it’s not much of a holiday unless you live in a larger Jewish community, but in Israel, it was like Christmas here. It was repainting and gift giving and the almond trees and wild poppies were blooming in the Galilee.
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I’m not precisely Christian, as you know, but not not-Christian either. It is a season of rebirth and renewal, though, whatever the faith behind it.
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Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady.
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Thanks for reblogging, Viv 🙂 xxx
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I rally liked this as it encapsulated so many things I have thought about Easter over the years. Not a huge holiday here except for the commercialism of chocolate and Easter eggs. When my kids were small it was a much bigger deal – new outfits for church, plus the baskets of course, and a good infusion of religion.
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Here, apart from the eggs and the bunnies, you would barely notice it…unless you visit a church and see the lack of flowers, the covered finery and remember the reason why Easter is celebrated after all.
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What a beautiful and rich way of looking at this holiday that means much to the many, in so many different ways. Even under the Christian thinking, it is a time of rebirth and hope, just as the winter is the symbol of the cold, the time after Harvest, and a time to rest and enjoy the latent fruits of our labors.
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Nature is usually behind our beliefs, somewhere 🙂
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