Pascha
By Elise Eggett Johnson on Apr 6, 2007
Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
-Traditional Pascha Greeting
Do you remember the first time it hit you that you are going to die? Maybe it was a sudden blow as a child, or maybe it didn’t really set in until you had your first child. I have not yet lost anyone close to me to death, which is probably one of the driving forces to recognizing our mortality. So for me, the reality of death has been a gradual coming of age process that has occurred as I have come to love others deeply. It has not been my own imminent death, but that of my loved ones that has made me intimately aware of our brief and temporary existence here on earth.
My belief in eternal life certainly diminishes the fear I think I would feel toward death otherwise. I’ll be the first to admit that believing in physical resurrection and life eternal accomplishes this oftentimes self-serving purpose. I’m afraid of losing people I love and I’m afraid of not getting the chance to do and experience so many things that I’d like to. Death – which is otherwise, to me, very sad and discouraging and fear inducing – becomes a small and almost insignificant moment in the face of eternal life.
The beauty of spring is the world’s potential new life. The environment seems filled with signs that maybe – just maybe – the planet isn’t doomed to entropy. The beauty of Pascha, the Sunday of Resurrection, is that maybe – just maybe – humanity isn’t doomed to the finality of death.
Here are a couple of other thoughts from the LDS blogger world on Easter:
How will you spend your Easter Sunday? What are your reflections? What traditions will bring you closer to your family and closer to your God?
We don’t really have any family traditions for Easter, other than eating too much.
We went to church. It was a very nice meeting.
The best thing about this Easter season/Holy Week has been Kristine Haglund Harris’s Holy Week series on By Common Consent. Every single day for the last eight days has brought me insights into Jesus and what he does for us.
Comment # 1 by Ann | Apr 8, 2007 | Reply
Elise,
Great post. The lack of many responses to what you wrote is a sad commentary on Mormonism. The fact of the matter is that the church as a whole does a horrible job celebrating Easter and cultivating a spirit of reflection and gratitude.
The whore of all the earth does a much better job in comparison. Lent, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and then Easter. Over a month of preparation and reflection. This is the type of practice within a church that cultivates attitudes within individuals and families that creates family tradition and makes Easter more than just another Sunday. It’s interesting to note that most Christmas Sunday’s consist of only Sacrament Meeting and then the rest of the day is spent with family. Easter happens on a Sunday every year yet it never receives this same treatment.
Easter is seriously short changed in the one and only true church on the face of the earth. The atonement and resurrection far outweigh the importance of any other day in history. Why does the Mormon church act like it’s any other Sunday?
I think this is at the root of members not having traditions on Easter other eating chocolate and worshipping bunnys. If the LDS adopted a Catholic perspective you would have special family fasts, special meals, the acting out of the Easter, special family testimony meetings etc. True Christians would also cut out all the Pagan BS that distracts so much from the Holliday. Even as a current in betweener as far as my faith in Christ, I despise bunny rabbits and eggs distracting from His message of redemption. It makes me sick. There is no value to be found in twisting Paganism to fit into Jesus’s day of Glory. I just don’t understand why people in God’s True Church would play along with the world. What ever happend to “in the world but not of it.”
Comment # 2 by simeon | Apr 11, 2007 | Reply
I agree with Simeon. I attended a nondenominational emergent church this year on Easter and I was blown away by the intensity of celebration, the joy of He Is Risen. The whole service waspreempted- nothing mattered that day but the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Not typically so in Mormon wards. Sure, Sacrament meeting will feature the Easter classics, and talks will be about, or will at least give a nod to, the atonement (when Easter’s actually about the Resurrection, but whatever), but other than that, it’s business as usual. Maybe the more old-fashioned ladies wear nice dresses, but for most Mormons, Easter’s really just another Sunday, but with a basket of candy and some eggs.
Comment # 3 by Kullervo | Apr 12, 2007 | Reply
What’s wrong with a basket of candy and some eggs?
Comment # 4 by Ryan Jentzsch | Apr 12, 2007 | Reply
My husband and I went to Episcopal services Easter Sunday morning. Wonderful music, thoughtful sermon, friendly people–it was a lovely experience.
Afterward, we rushed across town to attend our ward, only to find out they were having fast and testimony meeting. On Easter. There were a few passing mentions of Easter in a couple of testimonies, but that was it. Not even any Easter hymns. I was hugely pissed off.
Then I heard something more appalling from the ward organist: our ward is going to have an Easter program this Sunday–a week AFTER Easter. Because Lord knows they couldn’t have shifted testimony meeting to celebrate THE foundational event for all Christianity when it was appropriate.
Clearly, this took some planning, but I can’t fathom how anyone could think a week-late Easter service would be a good idea. This approach isn’t better than ignoring Easter altogether, and in my opinion, it’s appallingly worse.
Comment # 5 by Mary Ellen | Apr 13, 2007 | Reply
Yeah, our stake actually had stake conference on Easter. The old stake prez was called as an area authority seventy, so they absolutely had to call a new stake president. That’s right; Easter was preemprted by an administrative concern…
Comment # 6 by Kullervo | Apr 13, 2007 | Reply
Mary Ellen,
Likely someone didn’t get the memo in time. F&T was supposed to be the last Sunday in March, and in your ward or stake, it didn’t get scheduled right. Seriously, there was a memo.
We actually had a nice Easter service in our ward. We had two Easter numbers by our choir, and each member of our bishopric spoke, along with their wives, all centered on Christ and the atonement. I guess I don’t mind that the atonement sometimes take center stage over the resurrection, but that’s just me.
Comment # 7 by Kevinf | Apr 13, 2007 | Reply
Yes, we had testimony meeting up our way, also. For priesthood we had a lesson on fasting and in Sunday School, the story about feeding the multitudes.
My wife, who grew up Catholic, has a hard time with the way the LDS church treats Easter Sunday and Christmas Day when it falls on a Sunday.
But we did forgo the ham this year and had a dutch oven Easter dinner…..
Comment # 8 by Keva | Apr 13, 2007 | Reply
Kevin - Agreed. Atonement is pretty close and usually ends encompassing the resurrection as well. Now and again a decent Easter service is to be had within a Mormon Church. It’s hit and miss though. This still doesn’t really explain why Easter gets such light treatment with the one and only true church.
It’s interesting to see that none of the mainstream Sunstoners or NOM’s out there are commenting on this topic. It’s a blaring hole in the church’s armor and no one wants to touch it with a ten foot pole.
Are we affraid of letting doubt creep into our fragile little minds?
Comment # 9 by Simeon | Apr 13, 2007 | Reply
Kevin,
Thanks for mentioning the memo; I will certainly mention that in my upcoming chat with the bishop about how disappointing Easter Sunday was.
The CA ward I was in for the last 9 years did amazing Easter & Christmas concerts with the choir performing 6-8 pieces with organ, flute and violin accompanyment and speakers/narration in between. We had a lot of musical talent and a lot of people who were dedicated to making Easter and Christmas special.
In our new ward, there are a fair number of musically talented people. But the ward music director says he can’t get them to play their instruments or join the choir. He’s dissatisfied with the lack of support from leadership and the lack of interest when he does put a musical number together. I don’t blame him for being weary.
Since I’m new in the ward, I can get away with asking stupid/obvious questions about why they ignored Easter.
You’re right, Simeon. Easter doesn’t get the treatment it deserves in the church. Why not? My best guesses are:
1) People have been in wards where Easter is no big deal; over time, Easter becomes no big deal to them.
2) People who are converts and have the experience of truly celebrating Easter still want to when they’re LDS, but if their ward doesn’t have the staffing or the interest, it may not happen. Some (like our family and our formerly Episcopalian organist) go to other churches on Easter Sunday.
3) People who have been in wards where Easter is done right/celebrated/special may be in callings/positions to make Easter happen in their ward.
4) People who want to do Easter right get shouted down/vetoed by those who think Easter is no big deal.
5) There may not be sufficient musical talent in the ward to do much on/about Easter.
6) Even if there is a lot of Easter music to choose from in other traditions, there are only 3 Easter-specific songs in the LDS hymnal. The Episcopalians have 43. If your ward is wound tight–like “don’t sing anything that’s not in the hymnal” tight–there’s not much to choose from. (Again, it helps to have musically educated people around).
7) Some Mormons would say they prefer to focus on Christ’s life, not his death and see Easter not as a celebration of the resurrected Christ, but as an inappropriate fixation on his death. The same might think that the events of Holy Week or the Lenten season or Passover seders are extraneous to the one true church and are unnecessary to celebrate. (Yet their kids will still dye eggs and get chocolate bunnies in their baskets because heaven knows we can’t skip the pagan aspects attendant to significant Christian events).
Any other theories?
Comment # 10 by Mary Ellen | Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
Sorry I have not been around this week to respond to all of your comments. Thanks for your replies.
I prefer Easter Sunday services that focus on the Resurrection, however, I agree that there is a need for focus on the Atonement as well. I have been to some outstanding Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services that focus on the Atonement. A couple of years ago, I went to a particularly moving Good Friday service. I was surprised at the turnout at church on a Friday night - there were a lot of people there. They had a nursery set up for small children, because the service itself wouldn’t have worked with small children attending. There was a small worship band playing praise music focused on the sacrifice of Christ. The lights were dimmed. The band played for about an hour. During that time some people sat in their seats. Some people knelt on the floor. Some small groups prayed quitely together, some people appeared to be praying individually. No one spoke. After about an hour, the band stopped playing. Most people stayed longer, but people started leaving after another 15-20 minutes. I hugged a couple of friends as I left but didn’t say much. It was, for the most part, a Good Friday spent gathered in silence. It is the most moving service focused on the Atonement that I have attended.
Mary Ellen, I enjoyed reading your theories. Can I ask which CA ward you felt did an amazing Easter/Christmas concert? My mother-in-law puts on an outstanding Christmas and 4th of July musical performance for her stake that we enjoy going to (in Orange County), but as far as I know her stake doesn’t do anything for Easter. If the Easter concert you mentioned was nearby I’d be interested in trying it next year!
It seems to me that the doctrine of the Atonement/Resurrection is not AS central a focus in Mormon traditions as it is in Protestant and Catholic traditions. The Atonement/Resurrection is pretty much THE one and only deciding factor to their salvation. In Mormon doctrine, the Atonement/Resurrection opens the door to the possibility of salvation, but is not the only deciding factor. I agree with you that church leadership plays a significant role in the way Easter Sunday plays out, but I think the doctrinal aspects may proceed the actions of leadership.
And, to answer my own questions in the original post, my Easter was very different than any Easter in my past. I’ve always spent Easter with LOTS of family. But this year, my only family nearby was on vacation elsewhere, spending the day with the other half (in-laws), or working. My husband and I appreciated an invitation to accompany his sister to her in-laws but declined - there would have been at least a dozen kids under the age of 10 all hyped up on sugar and we’re not in that stage yet.
So we went to church together at a local Church of Christ congregation. We soaked up the music together and listened to the sermon - him, a kind-hearted, compassionate, caring and truth-seeking agnostic; me, God-beliving and forgiveness-seeking and often unsure of truth, but trying. And at the end, we joined hands with the others in our row and celebrated new life and friendship.
Afterward, we indulged in a Pho bowl at a local Asian restaurant. We went home and took a nap, and I watered the plants growing on our patio. A non-traditional Easter Sunday, in deed, but I felt closer to my God and closer to my family at day’s end.
I loved hearing about all the different ways you spent Easter. I hope - whether attending other services or pondering series on BCC, or even F&T in some cases - you also felt closer to God and closer to family through your activities and meditations.
Comment # 11 by Elise | Apr 14, 2007 | Reply
Elise,
The ward with the amazing Easter (and Christmas) concerts is the Pasadena Ward, Pasadena, CA. Last year, I was one of three female speakers on the program and we all focused on the women in the Easter story. Very cool. And also why this year’s non-Easter in my new ward was so damn depressing.
That choir and the people in it kept me connected to the church while my graduate work was stretching me in other directions. During the years I was in the ward choir, we made 2 CDs–one recorded live at a spring concert and another with two years’ worth of Christmas music we’d performed. When I’m missing that choir, I pop in the CDs and sing along–and then I don’t feeeeeel soooo baaaaad!
Comment # 12 by Mary Ellen | Apr 16, 2007 | Reply
Simeon is getting perilously close to heresy, I suggest he repent and get with the program.
We are to follow our leaders without question and if they feel that selecting a stake president is more important that celebrating Easter then so be it.
The first step to hell begins with questioning our elders.
Hilary Hill
Comment # 13 by Gordon Hill | Apr 29, 2007 | Reply
Elise,
In viewing the dearth of responses to this important thread, I recalled my own most significant “Pascha” in recent years. I wrote a poem about it called Russian Easter.
In early April 1989, just before the fall of the Soviet Union, my [then] wife and I received a telephone call from Marina in Moscow. Marina was the young woman who had been our tour guide the previous January on our good will concert trip to the USSR. Marina had just received permission to leave the Soviet Union for the first time and wanted to stay a few days with us on her first trip to America. She came with her best friend, Lena. Our home was their first stop outside their own country. We learned that both young women were members of the Russian Orthodox Church. They had scheduled to be in our home during Russian Easter (April 30).
As many of you may know, Easter, for Russians, is their most important holy day. So, to help them celebrate such a special day, we went to the closest Russian Orthodox Church for services. This occurred at midnight on Easter morning.
Later on that same Russian Easter Sunday, out of interest and curiosity, both Marina and Lena came with my family and me to experience a typical Mormon sacrament meeting. As the bread tray was being passed along to those sitting on that hard wood pew in Long Beach Third Ward, Marina (on my right) leaned over to me and whispered, “Is it permitted? We are not members of your church.” She was clearly absorbed in the service and hanging on every word.
Without thinking, I replied spontaneously, “Of course, we are all Christians and believers here.” With that explanation, the three of us took the bread together.
Shortly after that moment I began to realize that I had just take the sacrament for the first time in a way different than I’d ever taken it before. Now, together with these two eager, enthusiastic and sincere believers, albeit from an old, alien and ailing culture, we took the sacrament as fellow believers!
All distinctions between us disappeared. And in some mysteriously new and wonderful way, I experienced that ordinance of eating the broken bread together as something more transcendent than at any time previous. With our Russian friends, I realized that I was more than a member of the Mormon Church.
With that realization, I began to experience an extraordinary sense of freedom to participate with any other believer in any other worship setting. The setting, itself, became insignificant. The institution became insignificant. It no longer mattered whether it was formal or informal. What became significant was acknowledging membership in a community of believers. By that simple act of taking bread together distinctions were obliterated, and I realized I had joined a far more fundamental and universal spiritual community. Several days later the deeper irony of that unplanned moment began to dawn on me. As I have said before, up until then I had been preoccupied with and focused on a Mormon Mission to Moscow. I had invested over thirty years of preparation into a completely Mormon-centered enterprise. Now, in one spontaneous moment of providential good humor, I experienced a Moscow Mission to Mormons!
I felt my thirty year preoccupation transform in a moment—as if in a twinkling of an eye. In that moment I felt open to whole new universes of good news In that moment a new understanding of a universal law began to awaken in my consciousness. And it has taken time to begin to apply this new understanding—this subtle but major shift in my personal values—to practical reality.
Russian Easter
“Is it permitted?”
Inquire our two Moscow guests
On a Long Beach bench
As sacred emblems pass our way,
“We are not members
Of your church.”
“Yes,” I whisper,
“All are Christians
And believers here.”
Then we three as one
With tear-stained smiles
And Slavic souls communing
Thus took the broken loaf
And through the Ancient Date
The Mystery rose to fuse
The Awful Fission.
Eugene Kovalenko
Long Beach
30 Apr 89
Comment # 14 by Eugene Kovalenko | May 20, 2007 | Reply