I wish I could remember how to write the Russian: Christos voskres... something!
Dave,
Missing you too, my friend. But know you had a joyous celebration and we DID eat at the same table this morning!
Terry,
Thanks for the kind words. I confess that I've come to look forward to your entertaining and insightful comments. They tend to come as a "morning surprise" because you usually post late at late!
Much love to you all - and the joy of this day to you and your families!
I knew sooner or later someone would notice the time stamp on my posts! Generally, being down one parent in this household, I'm online either when all the work is done normally shared, or when I've got one parent's share done, put the boys to bed, and am doing the rest -- like laundry. Throw in practices, meetings of this or that, Mid-week, and most nights that adds up to late! I wanted to get a series on the days of Holy Week posted on my blog, and ran out of gas by Easter. Good thing there's an Eastertide! It'll still be timely, and of course the Easter message is timely any time. One of the days I'll live in a household when 10pm (or 2200 hours if I may) will be late once more!
So Happy Pascha again! I've taken to using the word Pascha not because I'm thinking of swimming anywhere (or rather anywhere else, having done the Tiber in the out direction, then Lake Superior and now quite happy to have landed on the St Louis shore of the Mississippi!) but because I've always been a little uncomfortable that English doesn't, like most languages, have a word for the day derived from the Passover, since the Death and Resurrection of Jesus is our Passover, and uses a word probably derived from a pre Christian Germanic spring ritual. But while thanks to Trini Lopez pretty much everybody recognises Merry Christmas in my other language, Spanish, "felices Pascuas" usually brings blank looks among non Spanish speaking people! For that matter, I don't really know why we use the plural for that, it's just what people said so it's what I picked up. But using Pascha in English seems like a good practice and I notice it among other confessional types in the blogoshpere!
I wholeheartedly agree. Our English, and our culture, is sadly lacking in Christian elements. I find it fascinating that the Russian word for "Sunday" is воскресенье, which means "resurrection." Sunday is Resurrection Day in Russia. Imagine the old communist atheists sayings to one another, "I will see you on Resurrection Day."
I remember getting a kick out of that about Sunday in Russian also! What a hoot!!!
If we do NOT start using the word Pascha and helping our people become acquainted with its meaning, we continue to have incomprehension about the "Paschal Candle" and some of our Easter hymnody:
"Where the Paschal blood is poured...Paschal victim, Paschal bread..."
Not to mention the typological connection with the Passover - "For Christ, our Pascha, has been sacrificed. Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 6:7-8)
Well even our Western secular calendar is a hopscotch of stuff, with Roman named months and Germanic weekdays. Who knows that June is for Juno, July for Julius Caesar or August for Caesar Augustus, or other months having their old numbers, September the sept- or seventh month etc? Or Friday is Freia's day, Thursday Thor's day, Wednesday Wodin's day (or Wotan if you're a Ring freak like me) etc. The least we can do is quit calling the biggest day of the Church calendar after Oestra! Not only that, look at what has happened here, a first in the entire recorded history of everything -- three confessional Lutherans agreeing on a change! An "Easter" miracle! (Sorry, couldn't resist, just got into a small dust up on another blog on cutting and pasting liturgy after one's own ideas, and besides Pastor W needs his morning chuckle.)
Seriously though, using the term Pascha is really a good idea going forward. I mean, we say kyrie eleison without fearing somebody's going to up and swim to Constantinople don't we?
13 comments:
Christ is Risen!
Indeed! He is Risen!
May your day be blessed and filled with joyous celebrations.
Christus resurrexit!
Resurrexit vere!
Alleluia!
I'll crack a red egg for you later today.
Missing your brotherly fellowship this Easter, dear friend!
Hapy Pascha, Pastor!
This blog is a daily blessing to me, and I am grateful for it.
Just looked at your associate's new blog, and that looks pretty good too!
Deb,
Thanks and the same to you!
William,
I wish I could remember how to write the Russian: Christos voskres... something!
Dave,
Missing you too, my friend. But know you had a joyous celebration and we DID eat at the same table this morning!
Terry,
Thanks for the kind words. I confess that I've come to look forward to your entertaining and insightful comments. They tend to come as a "morning surprise" because you usually post late at late!
Much love to you all - and the joy of this day to you and your families!
Terry,
See, 10 o'clock is already so late for me that incoherent. "Late at night!"
Pax!
Our Russian brothers and sisters will say:
Христос воскрес! Воистину воскрес!
Indeed, He is Risen!
I knew sooner or later someone would notice the time stamp on my posts! Generally, being down one parent in this household, I'm online either when all the work is done normally shared, or when I've got one parent's share done, put the boys to bed, and am doing the rest -- like laundry. Throw in practices, meetings of this or that, Mid-week, and most nights that adds up to late! I wanted to get a series on the days of Holy Week posted on my blog, and ran out of gas by Easter. Good thing there's an Eastertide! It'll still be timely, and of course the Easter message is timely any time. One of the days I'll live in a household when 10pm (or 2200 hours if I may) will be late once more!
So Happy Pascha again! I've taken to using the word Pascha not because I'm thinking of swimming anywhere (or rather anywhere else, having done the Tiber in the out direction, then Lake Superior and now quite happy to have landed on the St Louis shore of the Mississippi!) but because I've always been a little uncomfortable that English doesn't, like most languages, have a word for the day derived from the Passover, since the Death and Resurrection of Jesus is our Passover, and uses a word probably derived from a pre Christian Germanic spring ritual. But while thanks to Trini Lopez pretty much everybody recognises Merry Christmas in my other language, Spanish, "felices Pascuas" usually brings blank looks among non Spanish speaking people! For that matter, I don't really know why we use the plural for that, it's just what people said so it's what I picked up. But using Pascha in English seems like a good practice and I notice it among other confessional types in the blogoshpere!
I wholeheartedly agree. Our English, and our culture, is sadly lacking in Christian elements. I find it fascinating that the Russian word for "Sunday" is воскресенье, which means "resurrection." Sunday is Resurrection Day in Russia. Imagine the old communist atheists sayings to one another, "I will see you on Resurrection Day."
William,
I remember getting a kick out of that about Sunday in Russian also! What a hoot!!!
If we do NOT start using the word Pascha and helping our people become acquainted with its meaning, we continue to have incomprehension about the "Paschal Candle" and some of our Easter hymnody:
"Where the Paschal blood is poured...Paschal victim, Paschal bread..."
Pax!
Not to mention the typological connection with the Passover - "For Christ, our Pascha, has been sacrificed. Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 6:7-8)
Well even our Western secular calendar is a hopscotch of stuff, with Roman named months and Germanic weekdays. Who knows that June is for Juno, July for Julius Caesar or August for Caesar Augustus, or other months having their old numbers, September the sept- or seventh month etc? Or Friday is Freia's day, Thursday Thor's day, Wednesday Wodin's day (or Wotan if you're a Ring freak like me) etc. The least we can do is quit calling the biggest day of the Church calendar after Oestra! Not only that, look at what has happened here, a first in the entire recorded history of everything -- three confessional Lutherans agreeing on a change! An "Easter" miracle! (Sorry, couldn't resist, just got into a small dust up on another blog on cutting and pasting liturgy after one's own ideas, and besides Pastor W needs his morning chuckle.)
Seriously though, using the term Pascha is really a good idea going forward. I mean, we say kyrie eleison without fearing somebody's going to up and swim to Constantinople don't we?
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