Easter

See also Holidays.

This page is for things to do on Easter. It is sufficient for use, but I will improve it.

In 2021, the three readings below worked well. People read them as dessert was served. You can print out the readings from: READING 1: Luke 23-24. The Easter Story and READING 2: Revelation 19. Christ the Victor over Death and READING 3: Revelation 20. The New Jerusalem. You can do it several ways:

• (a) Three people read Readings 1, 2, and 3. (3 people participate)

• (b) Five people read Readings 1a, 1b, 1c, 2, and 3. (5 people participate)

• (c) Four people read Readings 1a, 1b, and 1c and 2. Five people read Reading 3. (9 people participate)

• (d) Three people read Readings 1a, 1b, and 1c. Six people read Reading 2. One person reads Reading 3 (10 people participate)

• (e) Three people read Readings 1a, 1b, and 1c. Then six people read Reading 2 and five people read Reading 3. (14 people participate)

We are having our big dinner at 5pm today. For that, I will try to expand this. I will try to get some hymns printed out, with sheet music, and to get everyone to have an instrument-- grand piano, violin, viola, cello, trombone, ukulele, didgeridoo, kazoo, harmonica, pots-and-pans percussion, recorder, clarinet are possibilities. I will look for an ancient prayer or a Book of Common Prayer one for dinner. Maybe stories of past Easters. Maybe Dante's Paradiso has something good. I'd like to write up something on the theology of Easter to add to the readings. During dinner, maybe as people for names of some dead people we can hope will rise again, with no discussion of the probabilities of happy ending in particular cases. Ideally, we'd do something on the pattern of a seder, though we're a bit wiped out after last night's Christian seder at Bob's House.

 

 

READING 1: Luke 23-24. The Easter Story

This should be read by three people, 1a, 1b, 1c.

Reading 1a.
And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

Reading 1b.
And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words, And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.

Reading 1c.
It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.

 

 

READING 2: Revelation 19. Christ the Victor over Death

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

 

 

READING 3: Revelation 20. The New Jerusalem

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

 

 

Hymns for Easter

• Christ the Lord Is Risen Today Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!

Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia! Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

• And Can It Be that I Should Gain And can it be that I should gain
 An interest in the Savior’s blood?


Died He for me, who caused His pain—
 For me, who Him to death pursued?
 Amazing love! How can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
 Amazing love! How can it be
 That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

• We Will Dance Sing aloud, for the time of rejoicing is near; (women echo)

The risen King, our Groom, is soon to appear. (echo) The wedding feast to come is now near at hand; (echo) Lift up your voice, proclaim the coming Lamb. (echo)

• Lead On, O King Eternal Lead on, O King eternal, the day of march has come;

Henceforth in fields of conquest Thy tents shall be our home: Through days of preparation Thy grace has made us strong, And now, O King eternal, we lift our battle song.

Notes for Future Use

The Book of Common Prayer Easter morning prayers readings are good.

MARK

16:1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

16:2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

16:3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? 16:4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

16:5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

16:6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

16:7 But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

16:8 And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.

16:9 Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

16:10 And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept.

16:11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not.

16:12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country.

16:13 And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them.

16:14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

16:20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

Easter Vigil

The original twelve Old Testament readings for the Easter Vigil survive in an ancient manuscript belonging to the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Armenian Easter Vigil also preserves what is believed to be the original length of the traditional gospel reading of the Easter Vigil, i.e., from the Last Supper account to the end of the Gospel according to Matthew. In the earliest Jerusalem usage the vigil began with Psalm 117 [118] sung with the response, "This is the day which the Lord has made." Then followed twelve Old Testament readings, all but the last being followed by a prayer with kneeling.
(1) Genesis 1:1--3:24 (the story of creation);
(2) Genesis 22:1-18 (the binding of Isaac);
(3) Exodus 12:1-24 (the Passover charter narrative);
(4) Jonah 1:1--4:11 (the story of Jonah);
(5) Exodus 14:24--15:21 (crossing of the Red Sea);
(6) Isaiah 60:1-13 (the promise to Jerusalem);
(7) Job 38:2-28 (the Lord's answer to Job);
(8) 2 Kings 2:1-22 (the assumption of Elijah);
(9) Jeremiah 31:31-34 (the new covenant);
(10) Joshua 1:1-9 (entry into the Promised Land);
(11) Ezekiel 37:1-14 (the valley of dry bones);
(12) Daniel 3:1-29 (the story of the three youths).

Invitation for Church

Hello, folks.

Easter is this Sunday. If you’d like to go to a church service but don't know where to go, I invite you to come with me, Helen, and the kids. We'll be going to Clearnote Church on the southwest side of town, 10:30-12. I know some of you aren't believers. You're invited too, even if you just want to come and complete your cultural education by watching our peculiar rites.

Please pardon the group email; I don't know who might be interested.

YT, Eric Rasmusen [email protected], cell: 812-345-8573

The Name "Easter"

Some people [say the name "Easter" is bad because it is the name of a pagan goddess, and "Resurrection Day" should be used instead. Others claim it is related to a different goddess. I disagree. It seems from Wikipedia, my source for everything below, that it is from the word for Dawn, or Shining, which also is connected with the word for East and for a dawn goddess. See "Eostre" and "Easter". The word is unrelated to "estrus". It looks to me as if the original is Shining, it came to be applied to Dawn, from there it naturally became East, and eventually Dawn got to have a goddess associated with it, much like Sun and Moon acquired divinities. The word is quite appropriate theologically, because the day is for Jesus rising shining from the dead, much as the sun rises shining from the night. We even have "sunrise services". Probably that is why the name was applied to the holiday.

• Old English Eōstre continues into modern English as Easter and derives from Proto-Germanic *austrōn, itself a descendant of the Proto-Indo-European root *aus-, meaning 'to shine' (modern English east also derives from this root).

Writing in the 8th century, the Anglo-Saxon monk Bede describes Ēostre as the name of an Old English goddess and behind the name "Eosturmonath", the equivalent of the month of April. Bede is the only source commenting on this goddess.

Since the 19th century, numerous linguists have observed that the name is linguistically cognate with the names of dawn goddesses attested among Indo-European language-speaking peoples. By way of historical linguistics, these cognates lead to the reconstruction of a Proto-Indo-European dawn goddess; the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (1997) details that "a Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn is supported both by the evidence of cognate names and the similarity of mythic representation of the dawn goddess among various [Indo-European] groups” and that “all of this evidence permits us to posit a [Proto-Indo-European] *haéusōs 'goddess of dawn' who was characterized as a "reluctant" bringer of light for which she is punished. In three of the [Indo-European] stocks, Baltic, Greek and Indo-Iranian, the existence of a [Proto-Indo-European] 'goddess of the dawn' is given additional linguistic support in that she is designated the 'daughter of heaven'."

• Pascha, Latin. In Spanish, Easter is Pascua, in Italian and Catalan Pasqua, in Portuguese Páscoa and in Romanian Paşti. In French, the name of Easter is Pâques and also derives from the Latin word but the s following the a has been lost and the two letters have been transformed into an â with a circumflex accent by elision. In Romanian, the only Romance language of an Eastern church, the word Înviere (resurrection, cf. Greek Ἀνάστασις, [anástasis]) is also used.

• Welsh Pasg, Cornish and Breton Pask. In Goidelic languages the word was borrowed before these languages had re-developed the /p/ sound and as a result the initial /p/ was replaced with /k/. This yielded Irish Cáisc, Gaelic Càisg and Manx Caisht. These terms are normally used with the definite article in Goidelic languages, causing lenition in all cases: An Cháisc, A' Chàisg and Yn Chaisht.

• In Dutch, Easter is known as Pasen and in the North Germanic languages Easter is known as påske (Danish and Norwegian), påsk (Swedish), páskar (Icelandic) and páskir (Faroese). The name is derived directly from Hebrew Pesach.[2

• In Russia, Pascha (Paskha/Пасха), is a borrowing of the Greek form via Old Church Slavonic.[22]

• In Ge'ez and most Ethiopian-Eritrean languages like but not limited to Amharic and Tigrinya, Easter is known as Fasika (ፋሲካ), etymologically descended from the Greek name Pascha (Πάσχα) with the /p/ sound evolving into an /f/ sound, and /s/ turning into /si

• Some Slavic languages call it the Great Night, such as the Czech Velikonoce and Slovak Veľká noc. In Bulgarian, Macedonian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian it's called "Great Day", respectively Bulgarian Великден (Velikden), Macedonian Велигден (Veligden), Belarusian Вялікдзень (Vialikdzien`), and Ukrainian Великдень (Velykden`).

The Date of Easter

Not written yet. 

The 2021 Easter Dinner

Wellington said a battle is much like a ball. Nobody can be everywhere at once to describe it-- though he himself was amazingly good at being at every crucial point of a battle, e.g. Waterloo. Parties are like that too. We had, after dinner, the little kids upstairs in the office playing Legos and House, the teenagers outside playing badminton with the utility light to illuminate the darkness, the ladies with baby Elizabeth in the dining room, other ladies playing Mozart on the piano, and the men talking politics, strategy, and linear algebra in the kitchen and on the deck.