Easter Sunday

The holiest of days on the Christian calendar does not rate much in the secular world of today.  Stores remain open, people rush about as usual and even television barely gives a nod to old tradition.  We live in a world of mixed messages and never more so than on this holy day.  Politically we appear to be bound by old Christian values ranging from fidelity of our leaders to questions on abortion and gay marriage and yet in our daily lives these values are clearly invisible. 

       Is it a matter of the ones who hold these values dear are the majority that go out to vote while those who do not appear to have the same type of standard neglect the polls?  Or do we give ourselves a double standard, we want politically to cling to the old while living a freer lifestyle.  A case of do as I say  and not as I do standard.  I wonder.

       I suspect that there are many with ambivalent feelings about religion, faith and Christian values.  Over 2,000 years the faithful have been betrayed by hypocrisy over and over again.  It’s difficult to stay true, to believe unconditionally as we are taught to believe, when our leaders in church and state show weakness time and time again.

       And yet, on this holy day, I think about the one who stayed true and who we are taught died for the sake of all.  Whatever else we might believe, it is a truly moving story that continues to enthrall.

Easter Weekend

I’d like to say that spring has sprung but unfortunately the forecast is calling for a snow/rain mix on Easter Sunday but the last few days have been so glorious that one is fooled into believing the impossible.  Yesterday I pulled out all the deck furniture and even put out the cushions so we could sit and bask in the sunshine (and pssst, no wind).  Gorgeous.

       But as so often happens at the most inopportune time our kitchen sink tap broke while we were waiting for all our guests to arrive for an Easter supper.  I mulled with the idea of serving on paper plates but my heart wasn’t in it.  How can you decorate a nice table with plain white paper plates?  I suppose it could be done but that’s just not me.  This is a special day in the calendar and proper china is necessary.  So we improvised like true pioneers and washed up in the laundry room.  Ah, so you are wondering “why doesn’t she have a dishwasher”?  Well, I do but it’s one of those old fashioned ones that you have to pull out and screw into the tap so even if I had wanted to use the dishwasher (which I never use) it wouldn’t have worked.

       There were only six of us but that didn’t stop the conversation(s) into morphing into 3 separate conversations several times during the course of the evening.  I’d have to steer my unruly group back which would sometimes take 10 minutes at a stretch.  It was fun, it amused and it annoyed all at the same time.  The roundtable question was “would you fight if Canada was at war” and then it was “pick me, pick me” to start the round.  Interesting answers and not always what I expected from the individuals.  We can learn a lot from our own family members when we throw out a hot topic and let it land in the middle of the room.

       I never got to ask my second question because the first kept on going.  The second one, “would you have tried to save Jesus”?  That will have to wait until next year.

Easter Sunday 2011

My goodness but not only the computation of the date of Easter but the controversy on whether or not it should be celebrated at all is a complex issue in the religious world. The instructions of Jesus was “keep doing this in remembrance of me”, which was the symbolism of the bread and the wine. In the bible this is the only direction for any sort of celebration of Jesus himself. Everything else has been added on by others as the whim came to them. When one considers the trappings of the old Catholic church it really boggles the mind what people decided was important to commemorate their religion. Why on earth would anyone think it was necessary to get up in the middle of the night, toll the bells and sing hymns to Jesus and God? Does anyone today really think God would want that?

I was raised to believe in God and in Jesus. When I was still a teenager my father said that Jesus was the best man that ever lived but he wouldn’t commit to saying that he was the son of God so I naturally began to have doubts. In my mid twenties I had a real epiphany of doubt when I would see the sign displaying the number of fatalities on Calgary streets had increased over the weekend even after I had prayed and prayed to save Calgarian lives. Simple belief, the power of prayer wasn’t working. Of course that wasn’t the only reason why I had doubts but it was like the final straw. Up until that time I had said my prayers every night since I was a young child. Again, I had begun my prayers on my own, my parents had never encouraged us to say bedtime prayers.

So when I say I was raised to believe in God it was a very loose sort of theology in our house. I recall having a conversation with my father in my mid thirties and expressed the opinion that we were actually harming our children by giving them a fear of God and the Bible because our leaders clearly didn’t believe and broke all the rules, while those raised up in true belief were held back from doing “wrong”, but the wrong was simply what the leaders decided was wrong. (I`m not going into depth on this philosophy for this time!) I had a lot of anger and disappointment in religion whether organized or not.

Along came my forties and I again examined my beliefs and I decided once and for all (?!) that I would believe in God because clearly I did believe in Him when it was convenient. Simplified version of where that idea came from is that I found myself talking to Him all the time whether I was in the mood for believing or not. I studied the Bible for several years with Jehovah’s Witnesses but I never felt that I had 100% Faith. I just could not get there.

Today I feel that God is not real as conceived or conveyed by any religion. I do believe that there is a Power of Good. I also believe that there is Intelligence in the Universe. Is that combined into some sort of entity that we can call God? I don’t know. But when we call on this Power, and we can call it God, then I believe that on occasion it does seem to come there to help you. I really believe this because I’ve experienced it on a number of occasions. Is it coincidence? Perhaps. But it does give me some comfort and some faith.

How would I define myself? I would say that I am an optimistic agnostic. I am a doubter, like Thomas. But Jesus didn’t condemn him for doubting, he merely admonished him. I can live with that.

Good Friday 2011

It’s nippy outside and looking a little grey this early in the morning but we are told by our beloved David Spence (the weatherman that I divorce every second day) that it will be “a pleasant weekend” so I’m putting my faith in him and therefore not turning on the heater in the sunroom. My best friend Silvia is coming for a long awaited visit to the completed sunroom so I want everything to be perfect. Unfortunately Erik has to work today so he cannot help with the housekeeping but he did make some efforts before he left this morning so that was nice of him!

What I find amazing is how quickly a house can get unkempt. It seems like I’ve been cleaning thoroughly every week but somehow it always looks like a disaster. John keeps telling me I have to minimize but the word is abhorrent to me. I love my “things”. I love my little ornaments and my pictures. I like to have books and magazines on the table for my guests (and for me) to look at. A girl needs tissue paper around her, doesn’t she?

Ah yes, here I go with the excuses. I hope you know that I am laughing at myself as I write this. As I’ve written before, I am the original Material Girl. I just cannot help myself. And when I see something adorable I have to tell you, I will often just leave it in the store, but then there is so much that is adorable that some of it just HAS to come home with me. A couple of weeks I came home with something and gave it as a gift to my mother and John and Mom both asked, “where’s the other one?” and I looked at them questioningly “what other one?” “You know, you always buy two.” Then I started to laugh and was happy to report that THIS time there was only ONE. But it’s true, alot of times I will buy 2 because I want one for me but then I think it is kind of me to buy another one for a friend. They think I am weird. Why? Isn’t that being generous? They tell me I don’t need one.

I don’t know who woke up and made John and Mom the arbiter of all things Sanne?

Well, I did buy 2 things for Silvia and I. I got 2 darling Thomas Kindle pictures, all framed and with a little plaque with a description of the scene. I bought one for me and the price was so great (my favourite frame shop had 40% off EVERYTHING) that I thought “this would make a great gift for Silvia’s birthday” – now what is wrong with that? Hmmmm? I could have been selfish and just bought for myself.

The kits are out having their frolick so I better brush my teeth and get hussling. Daylights burning!

To all my friends, have a lovely Good Friday. And do take some time to remember what today signifies in our Christian world.