Turns out yesterday was a convergence of matters holy. In addition to Good Friday and Purim, other notable Holy Days from around the world that took place on March 21. Among them, Eid–the birth of the Prophet, among some Muslims. More remarkable is the fact that such a convergence is incredibly rare, due to the fact that none of the major occasions marked on Friday is keyed to the same calendar date or event.
Terry Gross of NPR’s Fresh Air interviewed John Dominic Crossan a few years back to explore the historicity of the crucifixion. Originally airing in 2004, the conversation winds around the notion of, as guest host David Bianculli explains in the intro, crucifixion as state-sanctioned terrorism that “existed for centuries, before it became infamous under the Romans.”
The “great triumph of God over death” conveyed in music is the focus of Religion and Ethics Newsweekly’s Easter feature, with commentary by Canon Victoria Sirota of Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. The piece features excerpts from raditional hymns, African-American spirituals, and contemporary praise music, and context to help people understand the motifs of the music and how they tie into the Holy Week experience.
While Christians are gearing up for Easter, this weekend also marks the festival of Purim in the Jewish faith, as noted in this story from
From pilgrims walking the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem to Good Friday services round the world, Western Christians marked the crucifixion of Christ on Friday.
“Good Friday in Jerusalem was a day filled with many blessings and a solemn reminder of Jesus’ painful journey to his crucifixion as Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and an Episcopal Church delegation joined pilgrims and Christians in the Holy Land to share in Christ’s Passion.”
Poverty and privilege have at least one thing in common — they are both about choice, or lack of the same. This first struck me most powerfully during my first trip to Ghana several years ago. I only had to be there a few days when I realized that my most valuable possession wasn’t my laptop or my camera … but my American passport. With it I had the choice whether to stay or to go. Whether to make a life there or leave and make a life elsewhere.
Matt Gunter, reflecting on the image of a Soviet sub’s nuclear powerplant gone critical, reflects on the parallels between the contamination caused by the leaking radiation and the way our sinful natures contaminate our relationships with the people who surround us in our lives. “We are contaminated. What’s even harder for us to admit is that many of our actions and thoughts contribute to the contamination.”
Why is it that there is such a difference in the way the secular world celebrates the two major Christian holidays of Easter and Christmas? Christmas is so universally observed among people that preachers frequently worry about the secular elements creeping into the celebration. The Triduum (and Easter in particular) have resisted this secular appropriation. Why?
Clergy representing Catholics, Protestants, and Jews gathered in Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco yesterday to offer prayers on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Throughout the week, people from churches and synagogues throughout the Bay Area brought hundreds of pairs of boots and shoes to honor American and Iraqi casualties of the war.