Busy days and nights. Mostly for the pastors and church staff, but to me too. I visited Corpus Christi University Parish last night for Easter Vigil. It started with folks gathering around Easter fire in the parking lot outside the church in the freezing cold and snow. Then, people came in lighting candles as a sign of Jesus Christ who was sent by God lighting the world.
What I love the most about candle vigils is that anybody with a burning candle would light the candles of people in their vicinity. Believers spreading the light and passion of their belief to others around. Belief is not something you hide or bury in yourself as a personal thing, as trumpeted and forced (undemocratically as a minority who just make much noise) by the advocates of secularism under the pretext of freedom, yet ironically trampling the freedom of expression of believers. If you really believe in freedom of religion, the solution is not suppressing anybody who believes in God from expressing their beliefs in public. True multiculturalism and freedom of religion should ensure anybody to be able to express their religious beliefs without the fear of being labeled or ostracized.
It's the light that God has poured into your heart and you gotta spread it to anybody around you. You cannot hide the light of God. And nobody could extinguish the light of God however hard they try. That's what He's affirmed in the Bible and Quran. He will flourish His light albeit infidels don't like it (61:8).
And yes, another similarity with rituals of Ashura. But here, it appears there's an extra element of tragedy in Shia culture and traditions of Ashura vigil, referred to as the Night of the (lonely) Strangers. After the noon of Ashura, when Yazid's mercenaries killed and beheaded anybody who could fight (or even the one who couldn't; i.e. Imam Hussein's six month old baby), they started looting, ravaging and burning the camp of the beheaded who had nobody to defend them. Children fled and sought refuge under bushes here and there.
And when the night fell, mothers had to look around for the orphaned children who had witnessed all the savagery of the day. And those mothers had to look here and there under the dim light of the cindering camp to fetch those frightened beaten frail kids. And at Ashura night, when mourners carry candles marching, they stop and squat every few steps as if looking under the bushes for those kids and again resume walking and so on. And while I held my candle over Easter vigil, I had no difficulty feeling genuinely tense remembering my candle vigils in Iran at the Night of the Strangers.
But here, the grief over Easter vigil wouldn't last long. After a few sober psalms and hymns, candles were put away and their light gave way to the lights of the church and the big candles at the altar, psalms grew happy little by little and then, came Gospel Acclamation and the baptism of the newly confirmed members.
I had seen baptism of babies in movies and when I was in Nicosia, I could once witness the baptism of a 2 year old baby at a historical Greek Orthodox Church (and I admit that it was so lengthy that was even beyond my patience, let alone the poor baby who was wailing all along the ritual). But now, I could witness the baptism of grown-up people in a Catholic Church.
Here, people would step in the modern three-tier granite baptismal font (its picture could be seen here) and would receive three sprinkles (actually pouring) of water over their head in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It followed by anointing and then laying of hands and prayer and then the Eucharist and voila, all the grief of Easter vigil had already gone by this moment and everybody rejoiced the resurrection of Jesus Christ and their union with him. And then, a big reception followed with all sort of drink and food and yes, cookies, my very specialty.
On Easter, I carried on with my job at Hope Lutheran Church. And yes, it was the same jubilant church again as always with excellent altar decorations and floral and lots of beautiful songs, hymns and choir. And as Jesus was on the loose, the pastor invited everybody into Jesus life with a money-back guarantee; i.e. surrender to Jesus for 40 days and see what happens and if your life doesn't witness the spiritual presence of Jesus, they will return any and all money you have given to the mission of Hope.
And again, our conservative-cum-progressive pastor embellished his sermon with a movie clip to make his point. It was Dead Man Walking (quite a choice for Easter, eh?) and it showed the scene when the rapist/murderer (Sean Penn) collapses on his way to the execution chamber and then after the last talk by Sister Helen (Susan Sarandon) somehow comes to terms with his fate and resumes his frail walk and then comes the famous quote by the warden: Dead Man Walking. Just think of all the controversies around the film, analogies made, etc. Go figure.
Then, I rushed to Grace Lutheran Church for my next shift of observation (or actually was kindly driven to by one of choir singers, though he too had to start his second shift of singing at 11 o'clock service back at Hope). The altar was magnificent with all the floral and especially the Easter Lilies. There was a big lighted cross decorated with lilies. And all those flowers dedicated by the congregants in memory of the lost ones or in honor of the loved ones.
Fortunately, they had an interesting explanation in their prayer bulletin, which I quote here:
Each holiday is marked by cherished traditions that bring joy, comfort and warmth, and provide continuity from one generation to the next. Easter has its share of traditions: egg decorations and hunts, gift baskets and chocolate bunnies, sunrise church services, parades and of course, the Easter lily. For many, the beautiful trumpet-shaped white flowers symbolize purity, virtue, innocence, hope and life; the spiritual essence of Easter. History, mythology, literature, poetry and the world of art are rife with stories and images that speak of the beauty and majesty of the elegant white flowers. Dating back to Biblical lore, the lily is mentioned numerous times in the Bible. One of the most famous Biblical references is in the Sermon on the Mount, when Christ told his listeners: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet ... Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
Often called the "white-robed apostles of hope", lilies were found growing in the Garden of Gethsemane after Christ's agony. Tradition has it that the beautiful white lilies sprung up where drops of Christ's sweat fell to the ground in his final hours of sorrow and deep distress. Churches continue this tradition at Easter time banking their altars and surrounding their crosses with masses of Easter lilies, to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and hope of life everlasting.
And as is the tradition with this traditional church, they had lots of Reading and Gospel along with numerous traditional yet merry psalms and hymns and of course a sermon on "Don't Settle for Less". And after the Communion and lots more of hymns and songs, came the Intercession with each prayer answered by: "your mercy is great".
Amen.
What I love the most about candle vigils is that anybody with a burning candle would light the candles of people in their vicinity. Believers spreading the light and passion of their belief to others around. Belief is not something you hide or bury in yourself as a personal thing, as trumpeted and forced (undemocratically as a minority who just make much noise) by the advocates of secularism under the pretext of freedom, yet ironically trampling the freedom of expression of believers. If you really believe in freedom of religion, the solution is not suppressing anybody who believes in God from expressing their beliefs in public. True multiculturalism and freedom of religion should ensure anybody to be able to express their religious beliefs without the fear of being labeled or ostracized.
It's the light that God has poured into your heart and you gotta spread it to anybody around you. You cannot hide the light of God. And nobody could extinguish the light of God however hard they try. That's what He's affirmed in the Bible and Quran. He will flourish His light albeit infidels don't like it (61:8).
And yes, another similarity with rituals of Ashura. But here, it appears there's an extra element of tragedy in Shia culture and traditions of Ashura vigil, referred to as the Night of the (lonely) Strangers. After the noon of Ashura, when Yazid's mercenaries killed and beheaded anybody who could fight (or even the one who couldn't; i.e. Imam Hussein's six month old baby), they started looting, ravaging and burning the camp of the beheaded who had nobody to defend them. Children fled and sought refuge under bushes here and there.
And when the night fell, mothers had to look around for the orphaned children who had witnessed all the savagery of the day. And those mothers had to look here and there under the dim light of the cindering camp to fetch those frightened beaten frail kids. And at Ashura night, when mourners carry candles marching, they stop and squat every few steps as if looking under the bushes for those kids and again resume walking and so on. And while I held my candle over Easter vigil, I had no difficulty feeling genuinely tense remembering my candle vigils in Iran at the Night of the Strangers.
But here, the grief over Easter vigil wouldn't last long. After a few sober psalms and hymns, candles were put away and their light gave way to the lights of the church and the big candles at the altar, psalms grew happy little by little and then, came Gospel Acclamation and the baptism of the newly confirmed members.
I had seen baptism of babies in movies and when I was in Nicosia, I could once witness the baptism of a 2 year old baby at a historical Greek Orthodox Church (and I admit that it was so lengthy that was even beyond my patience, let alone the poor baby who was wailing all along the ritual). But now, I could witness the baptism of grown-up people in a Catholic Church.
Here, people would step in the modern three-tier granite baptismal font (its picture could be seen here) and would receive three sprinkles (actually pouring) of water over their head in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It followed by anointing and then laying of hands and prayer and then the Eucharist and voila, all the grief of Easter vigil had already gone by this moment and everybody rejoiced the resurrection of Jesus Christ and their union with him. And then, a big reception followed with all sort of drink and food and yes, cookies, my very specialty.
On Easter, I carried on with my job at Hope Lutheran Church. And yes, it was the same jubilant church again as always with excellent altar decorations and floral and lots of beautiful songs, hymns and choir. And as Jesus was on the loose, the pastor invited everybody into Jesus life with a money-back guarantee; i.e. surrender to Jesus for 40 days and see what happens and if your life doesn't witness the spiritual presence of Jesus, they will return any and all money you have given to the mission of Hope.
And again, our conservative-cum-progressive pastor embellished his sermon with a movie clip to make his point. It was Dead Man Walking (quite a choice for Easter, eh?) and it showed the scene when the rapist/murderer (Sean Penn) collapses on his way to the execution chamber and then after the last talk by Sister Helen (Susan Sarandon) somehow comes to terms with his fate and resumes his frail walk and then comes the famous quote by the warden: Dead Man Walking. Just think of all the controversies around the film, analogies made, etc. Go figure.
Then, I rushed to Grace Lutheran Church for my next shift of observation (or actually was kindly driven to by one of choir singers, though he too had to start his second shift of singing at 11 o'clock service back at Hope). The altar was magnificent with all the floral and especially the Easter Lilies. There was a big lighted cross decorated with lilies. And all those flowers dedicated by the congregants in memory of the lost ones or in honor of the loved ones.
Fortunately, they had an interesting explanation in their prayer bulletin, which I quote here:
Each holiday is marked by cherished traditions that bring joy, comfort and warmth, and provide continuity from one generation to the next. Easter has its share of traditions: egg decorations and hunts, gift baskets and chocolate bunnies, sunrise church services, parades and of course, the Easter lily. For many, the beautiful trumpet-shaped white flowers symbolize purity, virtue, innocence, hope and life; the spiritual essence of Easter. History, mythology, literature, poetry and the world of art are rife with stories and images that speak of the beauty and majesty of the elegant white flowers. Dating back to Biblical lore, the lily is mentioned numerous times in the Bible. One of the most famous Biblical references is in the Sermon on the Mount, when Christ told his listeners: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet ... Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
Often called the "white-robed apostles of hope", lilies were found growing in the Garden of Gethsemane after Christ's agony. Tradition has it that the beautiful white lilies sprung up where drops of Christ's sweat fell to the ground in his final hours of sorrow and deep distress. Churches continue this tradition at Easter time banking their altars and surrounding their crosses with masses of Easter lilies, to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and hope of life everlasting.
And as is the tradition with this traditional church, they had lots of Reading and Gospel along with numerous traditional yet merry psalms and hymns and of course a sermon on "Don't Settle for Less". And after the Communion and lots more of hymns and songs, came the Intercession with each prayer answered by: "your mercy is great".
Amen.
1 comment:
I like your spirit medrah
Please read my testimony carefully.
Thanks
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