Easter
Easter this year has been interesting for me. I don’t know if people are taking it more seriously, or if in times of increasing religious diverstiy, Christians are making more out of celebrating it… but it has felt much more public and open than I remember it being…. Perhaps a lot of it is due to Mel making the Passion of the Christ and thrusting Christianity back into the public conscience…
This Easter the brain shrinking goggle box transported me to Manchester where I watched the Manchester Passion (I know it was last year, but I was in Japan) and the Philippines where former “GamesMaster” presenter Dominic Diamond went to join in the crucifixion rituals and in preparation rediscovered his Catholic faith and in the end opted out of the act itself (whether through fear or understanding I’m not sure) and witnessed the apparent change in his life as a result of it (“Crucify Me”)…
Then tonight after evening worship I returned home to find the Passion of the Christ being shown on Channel 4… (And Patton will be glad to hear that I actually recognised some of the aramaic that is shared with Hebrew! I’ve managed a whole 4 words so far!)
Now I didn’t spend the weekend in front of the TV, but those times I happened to be in front of it, these were the things that I saw. And it surprised me that Easter, which previously had been so reserved and held back had become such a public event. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is great, provided that we can keep to the real meaning forefront and it doesn’t drop back to the chocolate, eggs and bunnies thing that it seemed to be when I was a child.
It is also encouraging that (although in this case somewhat dubiously) famous people are looking for truth where it might be found, rather than looking where people think it’s cool to look…
April 9th, 2007 at 7:39 am
There`s nothing here. Nothing!! Only the church events. After all the hoo-ha over Christmas, its strangely unexpected. I kind of thought… maybe a chocolate egg…
Still, Yuki asked me what Easter is and why we celebrate it so good evangelism opportunity!
April 9th, 2007 at 10:03 am
http://youtube.com/watch?v=QJmOrk02dSI
We put together this video for an evangelistic event in our halls at Bristol – it was followed by a gospel presentation. I post it because of all those interviewed at the start, only two are Christians – the girl who says “me, I’m a Christian” and the guy who talks about Jesus beating death. The others aren’t, yet many seem to know a bit about Easter which is more than I expected!