Finding spirit in a secular Easter
But in their hearts, most people know society will never follow suit. Easter in America will forever be of two minds — one filled with pastel egg dye and Peeps marshmallows, and the other filled with the solemn hymns of suffering and joyful hymns of redemption sung each year at religious services.
Yet the secular moments, too, can be an opportunity. Looking at the more commercial aspects of the holiday, one can also glean spiritual insights with some focus and imagination. Eggs, bunnies and baby chicks? All symbols of rebirth and renewal. That new Easter dress your sister brings home? A symbol of putting away the past and looking forward to a fresh, invigorating future. Even chocolate can be an allegory. It's sweetness and velvety texture are a "sensual" version of the sweetness and ease one feels when in touch with the peace and tranquility at the core of the soul.
But perhaps the best attitude was struck years ago by a little Idaho newspaper — the Lewiston Tribune. There, with spring beginning to bud and bloom outside the windows, the editors wrote:
"Easter is not a time for groping through dusty, musty tomes or tombs to disprove spontaneous generation or even to prove life eternal. It is a day to fan the ashes of dead hope, a day to banish doubts and seek the slopes where the sun is rising, to revel in the faith which transports us out of ourselves and the dead past into the vast and inviting unknown."
Most Easter revelers — Christian and non — could likely say "amen" to that.
Recent comments
Simply put, if secularism isn't good (which I think you're...
Kyle | March 23, 2008 at 3:39 p.m.
So what's your point? You put down a lot of words of no significance...
Dave | March 23, 2008 at 1:43 p.m.
I'm not going to church. I'm going skiing. The tragedy...
Kevin | March 23, 2008 at 7:29 a.m.
