"JUST HITTING ANOTHER
BRICK WALL"
Keep Your Mind on the Lord:
At my Pascha dinner (that’s Easter dinner for those of you who are non-Orthodox) I will not allow any discussion of gay marriage, global warming, abortion, illegal aliens or Rosie O’Donnell. We can kvetch about all that over lunch anytime after Pascha. If Pascha is so important, then it's important enough to respect the day for what it represents. My idea of a Pascal dinner isn’t the Village Voice and a roast leg of lamb.
The Pascha already has a theme — the Resurrection — and it doesn't need any help beyond that. The Pascha celebrates an event of sufficient majesty and magnitude that it can and ought to stand alone, without political intrusions designed for the disinterested, not for the devoted.
After all, on your wedding anniversary you don't buy flowers for other women, unless of course you are seeking after some big time trouble. At your Fourth of July barbecue you don't set up an empty chair to commemorate the rainforest. On Thanksgiving, you don't talk about why the Japanese should give thanks. And why is that?
Well, on your anniversary, the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, the mood and theme of the day is clear and sufficient, even to the most bored or political among us. Nothing speaks to the epidemic of Christian confusion and spiritual anemia than the idea that the Pascha — the most wondrous, mysterious and holy day of the year — is considered insufficient or unsatisfying as is.
We can always get back to discussing outreach, pluralism and ecumenism tomorrow. But today, on the Pascha let's focus on the Resurrection and the empty tomb and what it means to us.
A good solid Pascal dinner — filled with great food, commentary, your children and/or grandchildren passing along insights they learned at school, numerous musical interludes and reflection on our salvation and liberation from sin — should take us from early evening until the wee hours of the morning.
You really, really want to talk about the American refusal to sign the
And sometimes, even in this self-indulgent era, Christianity isn't about you. It's not about me. Pascha asks that we be about Christianity in both our outward and inward lives.
All of my friends and relatives are welcome to break bread and sup with me at the Pascal table, but not to hijack it. A Pascal dinner can be hijacked by the presumptive arrogance of political advocates who think their causes are too obvious for anyone to dispute. Remember, the Pascal dinner often has many guests and family members of diverse backgrounds and politics. In these very uncivil times, someone who disagrees with us politically is all too often called "an idiot," “a moron”, or worse.
The spirituality of the Pascal dinner can be ruined by someone like TV host Bill Maher, who said that he hopes the president dies, or Rosie O’Donnell, who says the president is a liar. Your sister’s brother-in-law’s fourth wife, the one you don't really know, could be waiting to unleash some Ann Coulter or Sean Penn broadsides. Or, worst of all, someone who was engrossed by the Pascha is now less engaged by your soapbox and is intimidated into silence, alienated from a Pascha that was doing just fine a minute ago.
Long after Pascha we can read the morning paper or listen to the evening news and fret about global warming, Chavez waxing stupid in Venezuela, Rosie O’Donnell hanging upside down like a bloated bat, Aunt Martha’s lumbago, Cousin Fritz’s hangnail or the strange rash on Gertrud’s fanny. The Pascha is eternal; the front page and the evening news comes and goes, and most of the relatives and in-laws can keep you up-to-date about their various aches, pains and rashes in their yearly news letters that come disguised as a Christmas card. My Pascha is timeless. It doesn't need help.
Christos Anesti!
Another Perfect Exampleof a Broken Cross and
Insanity in the Church:
Pastor says: “Idea Christ
died for sins ‘insane’”
Calls Easter message 'repulsive' – makes
'God sound like a psychopath'
Church of England traditionalists, wearied by the battles over homosexuality in the church and the clergy, are about to take it on their spiritual chins once again when a leading "gay" cleric will tell listeners to BBC Radio 4 that Christianity's traditional teaching on Christ's crucifixion for the sins of mankind is "repulsive," "insane" and makes "God sound like a psychopath."
Rev. Jeffrey John, who was forced to withdraw before assuming a position as bishop in 2003 after it was learned that he was in a long-term homosexual relationship, is scheduled to appear on Wednesday and will criticize ministers who use their Easter messages to preach that Jesus was sent to earth to die as an atonement for sin, reported the London Telegraph…..
If you want to read the whole
shocking piece, click here.
“Abouna” Gregori
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