Easter Day at St Alban's

Vigil of Easter at St Alban's

Good Friday at St Alban's

Maundy Thursday at St Alban's

Was Easter Borrowed from a Pagan Holiday?

Christian History magazine always has timely articles on this sort of thing.

Was Easter Borrowed from a Pagan Holiday?
The historical evidence contradicts this popular notion.
by Anthony McRoy

Anyone encountering anti-Christian polemics will quickly come up against the accusation that a major festival practiced by Christians across the globe—namely, Easter—was actually borrowed or rather usurped from a pagan celebration. I often encounter this idea among Muslims who claim that later Christians compromised with paganism to dilute the original faith of Jesus.

The argument largely rests on the supposed pagan associations of the English and German names for the celebration (Easter in English and Ostern in German). It is important to note, however, that in most other European languages, the name for the Christian celebration is derived from the Greek word Pascha, which comes from pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover. Easter is the Christian Passover festival.


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Old proverbs, new circumstances

"There is an old Turkish proverb: ‘You cannot put out fire with flames.’" That was a line from President Obama's speech in Turkey today. It caught my ear because I immediately thought to myself, "but wait . . . that's how they put out oil well fires." We have seen plenty of those in the wake of the first Gulf War. Such fires are extinguished by an exposion which consumes all the available oxygen, thus putting out the fire. Perhaps there is a new proverb in that.

It is easy enough to see the point of the proverb, which is the maxim that more violence does not necessarily stop violence (think of gang wars or the Balkans). Of course, sometimes it does (think of the Nazi concentration camps), but a proverb is a wisdom statement that is not always or even necessarily true. Rather, it "rings true"; there is practical value in the assertion made.

It caught my attention because it is an old proverb that had been outmoded by technology. I wonder how often that occurs. I was trying to come up with other examples, but cannot think of any at the moment. Can you?

New window at S. Mark's

S. Mark's Episcopal Church in Arlington Texas recently installed it's new rose window in the sanctuary.

Pictures from the day

Some interesting cloud formations loomed over Arlington, TX this afternoon.







Brickwork nears completion on the Marsee memorial garden at St Alban's.

Clouds shroud the tops of buildings in the Dallas skyline this afternoon.

The most curious traffic sign I've ever seen.

Seventh Anniversary

Today marks my seventh anniversary of being ordained a deacon back in 2002 at Our Lady of the Lake Episcopal Church in Laguna Park, TX.

Commenting on the harmony of the various orders in the Church, St Ignatius of Antioch once wrote: "Let the faithful take care to do all things in harmony with God, with the bishop presiding in the place of God and with the priests in the place of the Council of the Apostles, and with the deacons, who are most dear to me, entrusted with the business of Jesus Christ who was with the Father from the beginning and is at last made manifest."

Things that make me happy

Being a husband and a poppa.

Have a dolorous Lent

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. . ." (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

Here's wishing you all the most excruciating, starving, sorrowful, miserable Lent. May your days be rainy. May your soup taste bad. May your drinking water be luke-warm. May your bones ache. May your prayers be painful. May your hair fall out. May yours be an all-around dolorous (and, okay, blessed) Lent, and a happy Easter.