I took the photo of our Easter Worship sign on the curb in front of the church yesterday around noon.  Though the melt was on, the snow from Wednesday’s nor’easter was still piled against the sign, maybe a sign that Easter is not about daffodils and butterflies after all.

Most likely our English word for the day we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Easter, comes from an Old English word, Ēostre, the name of the Germanic goddess of spring.  The Christians borrowed the goddess’ name and festival and converted it to their own uses. The pagans have been unhappy ever since.

Ēostre’s influence over our remembering of the Day of Resurrection has always lingered, usually a benign metaphorical use of the things of spring, daffodils and butterflies, bunnies and eggs, to remind us of new life in Christ.

No longer acknowledging sin and its devastations in our personal and corporate lives; denying our desperate need for a redeemer, but still loving a good party; we moderns find great affinity in Easter’s pagan roots and are making the day a day, once again, for celebrating daffodils and butterflies, bunnies and eggs.  Chocolate is the theme for our party.

The gospels locate Jesus’ Triumphal Entry, the Cleansing of the Temple, the meal in the Upper Room, the Arrest and Mockery of a Trial, the Crucifixion on Golgotha, and the Empty Tomb of the First Day around the Feast of the Passover. Springtime. The event at the center of human history most likely took place in April. With our medieval calculus involving the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, Easter sometimes falls in March.  This year it just barely makes it into April.

Easter has much to do with Passover, nothing to do with daffodils and butterflies.

Our friends in Brazil celebrate Pascoa in the early days of autumn.  The pounding of the summer sun has just begun to fade and the days are cooler. The rainy season is almost over. Secular Brazilians look forward to chocolate.

Easter has nothing to do with the weather. Or with the seasons.

Easter is about victory over sin and death.  As N.T. Wright says, “The great turning point in human history, the moment everything changed, was when Jesus came out of the tomb on Easter morning.”

Whatever the weather on April 1, deep snow or pounding heat, at LPC we will sing,

Thine is the glory,
Risen, conqu’ring Son;
Endless is the victory,
Thou o’er death hast won;
Angels in bright raiment
Rolled the stone away,
Kept the folded grave clothes
Where Thy body lay.
Thine is the glory,
Risen conquering Son,
Endless is the victory,
Thou o’er death hast won.

So, to borrow a some words from another season, “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”

See you Sunday, the first day of the week at the center of human history.