Easter

I had no intention of writing about the just passed Easter holiday until I saw a little item flash across the bottom of the screen while watching the news. Americans, on average, spent $680 on Easter. Why?

In the first place, how many eggs and jelly beans can you eat? For sure, it's not my money and folks can spend what they earn however they want, but to spend like that on this particular holiday is kind of missing the point.

Easter is about renewal. The old, pagan traditions of Spring celebrations (the eggs and such) are kept alive and, of course, the Christian idea of the Resurrection  is celebrated. Whether you believe in an actual body being resurrected or a spiritual resurrection is not important, the day should at least be remembered as the birth of a new way of viewing our relationship with our Creator. I do not like the over commercialization of Spiritual holidays.

What was the Resurrection? Was it physical or spiritual? I have no idea. I wasn't there and the accounts from the 4 Gospels are very contradictory. Toss in the Gnostic versions and the Moslem account and the writings from the Talmud and it becomes obvious that we will never know for sure, unless we get busy on making a time machine and that doesn't seem to be in anyone's budget.

I am sure, however, that something extraordinary happened. Christianity spread so very quickly that something must have happened in the life and death of Yeshua, the one we call Jesus, that shook people and forced them to wake up and view life in a new manner. At the time the Gospels were written, there would still have been folks alive who witnessed the events. While memory fails over time, and details get blurred, if nothing of the sort had happened, those people would have spoken up/ That's just human nature.

Any way you look at it, show some respect. I am all for folks having fun and Easter should be a celebration, but it really is not about who gets the biggest chocolate bunny ar who has the most expensive Easter outfit.