Death to Death Day

It seems like it would be a shame to let Easter slide by without acknowledging it, because.for Christians of the Christian variety, this holiday is special. Yes I know, every holiday is special for Christians "Jesus is always the reason for this particular season." And certainly, at every "Christian" holiday there is always the debate about how it is actually pagan in origin and was certainly meant to worship the druid god of water, sea, fire and all things in between. And absolutely, the actual day may be off by a day, week, or month or two. And yes, it's true that in the name of "Christianity" and on its holidays there have been massacres committed by its practitioners, genocides of people of different beliefs and skin in a supposed attempt to follow some ill-understood scripture: a thinly-veiled excuse for hate of the different that has both scarred the world and defamed our Christ.

Regardless of the piles and piles of baggage that holidays carry, for Christians that actually think, Easter is special. This is the day that we focus on and remember the sacrifice of one man dying for another. The day that remembers an infallible love finding a suitable face to finally reveal itself to the world. The day to remember the death of perfect innocence for our shortcomings.The day that we were released from the mountain of rules that is the Jewish Old Covenant, symbolized by the tearing of the veil as Jesus breathed His last. The day that hope and love took on flesh only to be brutally killed by those to which it reached out.

This day we remember is a day full of contradictions. Death bringing life. Gasping breaths carrying hope. Religion collapsing and rising. Blinding hate producing immeasurable love. This day is special above all others for us because the day we celebrate is the day that everything truly changed. Because, it was this day that death lost its sting, and we have hope of a perfect love in a fallen and broken world.

This Easter, regardless of your religious colors, please take a moment to consider the weight of this day for believers. Even though we seem overly excited about ham and colored eggs, this holiday represents the total redirection of our lives and the memory of something incredibly painful and beautiful. For us, today represents new life.

If you've been hurt by a believer in the past, please try to put that away for a day (as hard as that is) and recognize that we are very broken vessels that often do just as much harm as good in the Name of something we seldom understand. I know that from the bottom of my heart, I hope to see all the people I count as friends someday share my faith (although I often do a terrible job expressing that) . It is the source of incredible hope and love in my life and, with time, has totally rearranged my life into a challenging, occasionally painful, but outrageously rewarding life. I would love to share that with you.

Happy Death to Death Day.