Seven Quick Takes - Picking On Easter

Hey!  It's Friday!  I had thoughts, and here they are.  Don't expect a lot.


1.

If you're a Christian, then Easter is coming.

I mean, if you aren't a Christian, Easter is still coming, but isn't as much of a big deal, being mostly about chocolate and less about, you know, eternal salvation.

If you're a Protestant, because it seems a very Protestant problem, then someone around you, maybe your church, is calling Easter Sunday Resurrection Sunday.

Since Easter is, in fact, the day of Christ's resurrection, I guess sure, but also...really?  This is what we want to do now?  Rename our holy days because of the possibility of ancient goddesses?  It just seems a little like a sulky, insecure sounding thing to do, doesn't it?

I mean, The Venerable Bede mentioned a possible anglo-saxon goddess ONCE, in the 8th century, and now approximately 1200 years later we're getting in a tizzy about it?  And writing articles like this, which say things I roll my eyes at but also bring up the decent point that we're not upset about all the other daily things named after ancient mythological figures - like the days of the week or the months of the year...or the word Sunday.

That article above also says "Some ministers believe it's outright wrong, even unchristian, to use the word Easter at all."  Man, them some crazy ministers.  UNCHRISTIAN?  So the past 1200 years of Christians going to Easter Sunday service are sinning in some way?  Using the word Easter is...unbiblical?  This is ridiculous talk.

Anyway, I shall continue to go to church on Easter Sunday, and those ministers can spend their time arguing about how they're going to spell the word 'January' now.

2.

I started listening to this podcast this week, which is done by a missionary couple in Angola affiliated with the CEML hospital.  I've mentioned other blogs I read by people involved in this work, and I enjoy keeping up with all the news.  It's interesting to me because if you asked me what areas of the world I felt most intrigued by, I would not say Angola, and yet I am learning so much about it these days.  Anyway, there are monthly podcasts and the couple are funny with each other.

3.

This is a great resource for free printable colouring pages for children at church that are not cartoony.  I don't like cartoony.  I don't really like colouring pages in general but I'm not a complete curmudgeon!  I can compromise!

4.

One of the things I don't like about homeschooling is that often I will come up with a very cool curriculum or idea or project and lack the momentum to see it all the way to the finish.  BUT, a friend of mine and I have combined forces and now every Wednesday her three kids and my three kids and both of us adults get together and do school.  We are doing a unit study based on the book Paddle To The Sea, by Holling C. Holling, and I have to admit it is fantastic and also fits both of our strengths very well.  For example, I like to fix things.  My friend likes to develop ideas at the speed of light.  Nothing makes me happier than typing up her messy notes and forming them into nice looking documents.

5.

I've been on an old-fashioned Christian book kick, which is not at all my usual genre so it's very strange, but here are two I enjoyed and would be gentle, interesting religious fiction reads if that's your cup of tea.

The first is called The Witness, by classic christian author Grace Livingstone Hill.  It's available via Project Gutenberg (so free, hurrah!) although I read it in print.  It's your standard faith based story with the exception that the protagonist, and almost all of the characters, are male.  Nowadays it seems like Christian fiction is almost exclusively a female thing, so maybe this has changed over the years, or possibly ladies in the past read about male protagonists more?  I don't know.

The second is by well-known author L. M. Montgomery, and it definitely isn't Christian in the same way as Hill's book, but more Christian fiction in the same way that Anne of Green Gables is Christian.  The overall worldview and attitudes and characters and such are Christian, even if it isn't a story of coming to faith.  Anyway, the book is called The Blue Castle.

Link

Look at this cover!  Isn't that the most silly cover you've seen in a while?  I assure you neither of the main characters look like this.

6.

I can't think of a #6.  I'm just sitting here, surrounded by things I'm supposed to be doing.  The horror.  The horror.

Have a...something...Good Friday.  And then a Sunday that reminds you of what is important in life.