Howefitz Blog

For those of you that are just tuning in, or Googled ’spiritual enlightenment’ and somehow wound up here, let me assure you that Sunday Sermons here at Howefitz Blog are anything but sermons. Here I explore matters of the spirit in a way that, I hope, inspires thought within others. I am not here to tell you what to believe, and any viewpoint is welcome…

Imagine for a moment that we are from  another planet. Our society has evolved to one of peace and science. Through our progress, however, we have all but destroyed our home planet, reducing it to a mechanized desert wasteland with hardly any organic life.

As part of an interstellar crew in search of a new home, we are sent to a primitive planet in a far off galaxy known as Earth. Well, we think of them as primitive because they’re still far from developing faster than light speed travel. On the other hand, they do have the iPad, of which we are very jealous…

Landing in the United States, we assume that this country represents the whole of the Planet. We quickly learn that the intelligent beings here have many different faiths, but they are predominantly Christian. In fact, it is curious to us thast some of the Christian celebrations bleed over to people that are not Christian. Two of these celebrations are Christmas and Easter.

Upon closer inspection, we find that both of these holidays center around a man named Jesus Christ who was the embodiment of the humans‘ creator coupled with Humanity. This man suffered and was brutally murdered as a human, and then resurrected three days later to save all of humanity from their sins.

What we find curious is that the bigger of the two celebrations, the one that creates the most fervor (and retail sales), the one that the humans claim to want to ‘keep all the year’ is Christmas.

Christmas is exciting, because it represents a promise to people of the Christian faith. Christmas promises that this baby in swaddling clothes lying in a manger will grow up to fulfill the prophecies that say there will be a man that walks among us that is God personified. This man will be our savior, and will eventually die at the hands of Man to save us from our sins.

Easter is the fulfillment of that promise. Easter is the day Christ arose from the dead, went down to Hell and took the keys, leaving the gate swinging open, (What was he, born in a barn? Heh.) and then ascended into Heaven to take his place at God’s side.

So why is Christ’s birth our biggest celebration? The miracle of the immaculate conception, the star guiding the Wise Men, the Angel singing to the shepherds is wonderful, but it’s just a precursor to the true miracle: his death and resurrection.

But it’s not just those events that are left behind for even non-Christians to celebrate, it’s his teachings. Even with prayer in school all but eradicated, I bet you can still find the Golden Rule there. (And probably without credit to the author…)

Easter itself is confusing to me. People wear crucifixes around their necks: images of an almost naked man bleeding on a cross. Is that really a symbol of faith and hope? Wouldn’t a tomb with the stone rolled away be more appropriate? Could we not figure out how to cut that in to gold and diamonds?

On the flipside, could Easter’s lack of commercialism show that we do hold it as the Holiest of holidays, and we don’t want it marred as some people feel Christmas has become?

What do you think? Are we all mixed up when it comes to these holidays?

Related articles by Zemanta

• How Easter stubbornly resists commercialism. (slate.com)
• The pagan roots of Easter | Heather McDougall (guardian.co.uk)
• The Confused Meaning of Easter (aimosi.blogspot.com)

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