Easter
Greetings
During
Lent my husband underwent out-patient surgery after which he took two weeks off
from his work as a Church of Scotland parish minister in order to begin his
recovery. As he was back in the pulpit during Holy Week we received twice as
many Get-Well cards as Easter greeting cards, all of which have been gracing
our front window during this season of preparation (Lent) and resurrection
(Easter).
Every
year we get from local folks about as many Easter cards as Christmas cards.
(From non-local folks we get no Easter cards and—see my first blog article—scads
of Christmas cards.) In this part of the world where many an Easter Sunday is
cloudy, if not rainy, and bone-chilling cold regardless of how “late” it falls
on the calendar, the sunny, blue-skied, blooming scenes on card stock lead me
to wonder if we’re not really paying homage to the Sun God. To be fair the writing
includes verses of scripture, and the artwork features churches, sheep, and
crosses—all good Christian imagery. But why aren’t there any cards that depict
the true nature of things here, such as overcast skies and rain or hail? Even
the blustery winds that can’t be adequately captured in a photograph or drawing
could be symbolized by a bent-back umbrella blown into the gutter.
I’m
not a literalist, but I do appreciate a message that speaks to reality, whether
the message is in the form of a Bible story—dare I call it a myth?—or commercial
advertisement –speaking of myths. Staring at the mixed messages about Easter, I
wonder if the Get-Well cards do a better job? They certainly aren’t
fair-weather worshippers or even monotheistic: there’s a seascape, a rural
landscape, a collection of teddy bears, a cat, flowers, and—from a church elder, no less—one card
devoted to the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. The only crosses are medical red
crosses. No scripture verses; only words of hope, well wishes, warm feelings,
and thoughts of you. Plus these imperatives: Take care, get well, and get well
soon.
I
double-checked how the Easter message comes across in the gospel stories: Very
early in the morning, while it is still dark or the day is just dawning, one or
more women go to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ dead body, only to find the stone which
was at the tomb entrance being rolled back by an angel or already rolled away.
She or they learn from one or more angelic figures that Jesus who was crucified
has been raised, is no longer here, and has gone on ahead where they will see
him. One by one the other disciples get in on the act with varying degrees of
disbelief. Matthew’s weather report on this particular morning includes an
earthquake. The feelings of the female witnesses are described as alarm, terror
and amazement, fear, fear coupled with great joy, or sorrow that the body has
been taken and presumably stolen.
Imagine
an honest-to-goodness Easter card: A gray background, with dusky clouds, barely
showing some dark-skinned Middle Eastern women hovering near an even darker,
empty cave. Like in a Rembrandt painting, the dim light closes in on their expressions,
and it’s up to us to make out their emotions in the face of the great unknown.
The earth underneath their feet is shattered, and their world will never be the
same.
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