Of Hope, Faith, and Renewal, Past and Present
“If we had no winter the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”
It is redundant to mention how our world has been suffering of late. The surreal reality of what we currently face can be overwhelming. The sadness, anger and anxiety we feel in our isolation, or about loved ones we can only virtually touch or aid, the questions about when it all will end and what will become of us.
Nevertheless, this bright spring weekend marks two holidays of profound renewal and liberation for two of the world’s major faiths. It is the weekend of the Jewish Passover holiday, Pesach Seder, the spring festival celebrating the date when God took the Jewish people out of Israel. And today, of course, is the Christian holiday of Easter, Pascha Sunday, which celebrates Jesus’ resurrection.
The two holidays have been associated for centuries. According to the historian and monk, Bede the Venerable (673-735 C.E.), Christians called the day celebrating the resurrection of Christ Pascha Sunday, based on the Hebrew word "passah," to pass over. This reflected the Christian belief that the Last Supper was likely a Pesach Seder, or Passover. The two holidays are also both closely associated with the Spring Equinox, as was the pre-Christian German’ and Anglo-Saxons’ spring festival dedicated to the goddess Eosttra or Ostara. Eostra's name suggests east, dawn and morning light. When the Anglo-Saxons and Germans converted to Christianity, the name of their goddess' holiday was transferred to that celebrating Jesus’ resurrection. Easter, Passover, and spring all speak to renewal and liberation.
It is hard, during this global crisis, to find moments when we can feel a sense of ease, let alone a sense of renewal, of optimism and of hope. Yet these traditional holidays and spring itself offer us just that, even during this difficult year. Both Easter and Passover celebrate moments in history that brought their followers out of darkness, confusion and sorrow. They are calls to arms for the faithful to experience that renewal and liberation. Spring too calls the whole world from the death of winter into new life. Whatever woes befall us, whether conflict, oppression or this pandemic, the maple trees’ buds will open each year and the wild violets, lily of the valley and trillium will bloom. And we need that sense of rebirth and re-awakening, especially this year.
So perhaps, today, this weekend, this spring, whatever our beliefs, we can find the space within ourselves to discover our own sense of renewal and liberation. What will we make that look like as individuals? What will we make it look like in our relationships to others and the groups we belong to? And what will we make it look like as a species in the world? What hope, what tolerance, what generosity, what compassion - what renewal - can we, individually and collectively, bring to the world?
Happy Easter, everyone. Happy Passover. Happy Spring.
From all of us at The Brown Homestead
