Church Chronicles: Unmasking Easter: The Truth Behind the Holiday: Part 1

0:00 Welcome to Church Chronicles by Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host, Connie Morris, and today we're beginning an exciting and eye-opening series that will challenge some of the most deeply held beliefs about one of Christianity's most celebrated holidays, Easter. Some of us may call it Resurrection Sunday. This episode is titled, Unmasking Easter, The Pagan History and Rediscovering the True Celebration of Jesus Christ's Resurrection. Easter is widely recognized as the cornerstone of the Christian calendar, the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his victory over death and sin.

0:52 But what if I told you that many of the symbols and traditions we associate with Easter have their roots in ancient pagan rituals? Today, we're going to peel back the layers of history and examine the origins of this holiday. Deuteronomy 12, 30-31 reads from the NIV, Be careful not to be ensnared by their ways, asking about their gods and saying, how do these nations serve their gods? Is that small case G's? We will do the same. We must not worship the larger God in their way. That's powerful.

1:35 I'm going to read that again just for effect. Be careful not to be ensnared by their ways, asking about their gods and saying, how do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same. You must not worship the Lord your God in their ways. So why do the symbol of eggs and bunnies featured so prominently in a holiday meant to commemorate the resurrection of our Savior? What significance do they indeed hold? Let's seek God's wisdom as we explore these questions.

2:16 The Festival of Istor. The name Easter is believed to be derived from Istor, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility. The Festival of Istor, E-O-S-T-R-E, was celebrated during the spring equinox, symbolizing balance, renewal, and the return of life after winter darkness. Symbols like eggs and hares, which rabbits, both representations of fertility, were centered to the celebration. Question, how did elements of pagan festivals become intertwined with the celebration of Jesus' resurrection?

3:03 The early church strategy. As the early church spread the gospel, they encountered a world immersed in pagan tradition. To make the message of Christ more relatable, early Christians adopted and refrained some local customs. However, this strategy led to a blending of traditions that still affects our worship today. Romans 12.2 from the NIV reads, Do not conform to the patterns of this will, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what the will, what God's will is.

3:47 His good, pleasing, and perfect will. That's powerful, right? Sometimes we'll read that, but this makes sense, doesn't it? Doesn't it make sense? It says, do not be conformed by the patterns of this world. That's in the Bible for a reason. But by the renewing of your mind, then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. So why we shouldn't repurpose pagan practices? The Bible warns us against adopting the practices of other religions.

4:30 In John 4, 24, Jesus tells us that true worship must be in spirit and truth. The mixing of pagan customs can dilute the purity of our worship. Easter should focus solely on Christ's resurrection, which is the ultimate victory over sin and death. What does it mean to worship in spirit and truth? Are there any practices in your life that may be distracting you from that focus? Isn't that powerful? We blend a lot of holidays together. We know Hallmark cards. You get a Hallmark card for any holiday, right?

5:12 And so we were, I know I was raised on Easter. We colored eggs and we just kind of follow whatever Hallmark put on the calendar. That's our holiday, Easter Sunday, Easter best, you know, so Sunday's best. But how do we not conform to the world? Well, I like to have church chronicles so that we can open our mind and so we can be aware of what is really, what does this mean? Now, I'm not being a hater on your Easter eggs. I'm just giving you information. You can do what you please, but it's good to always have information and some wisdom. So how do we refocus Easter and to really bring that focus into the real truth of resurrection of Jesus Christ?

6:00 Number one, seek God's guidance. So if you don't understand what this is about, ask God, how do you want me to worship you in spirit and truth? What does that mean, actually? So seek God's guidance. It says, trust in the Lord and ask for wisdom as you reflect on the traditions you serve. So don't just do things willy-nilly. Find out why you do what you do and then do it, right? People have weird things about Christmas tree or Christmas. If you're doing it for the right reason, ask, find out why you're doing it and then do it wholly unto God, whatever that is, right? Number two, renew your mind. Allow the word of God to shape, reshape, I'm sorry, reshape how you approach holidays and celebration.

6:48 Number three, stand firm in the faith. First Corinthians 16, 13, it says, remain steadfast in honoring Christ above cultural customs. A lot of times we do get caught up and say, well, we worship God like this and we worship God like that. If you don't do that, Then people get into this little verbal judicious about fighting and want scripture and stuff. You ask God how he wants you to worship him, and then you worship him that way, in spirit and truth. Like I said, I'm not the Easter egg police. I'm just here from Church Chronicles, Diary of Black Women, to say, hey, have you ever considered this?

7:33 Have you ever thought about this? I always wonder how the eggs come from Jesus dying on the cross. They just didn't balance. In my mind, as a girl, I thought that Easter stuff was like Easter egg and all that Easter egg hunt was for the kids to keep the little kids busy while the does go worship Jesus, right? You know, that was my thought as I grew out of the egg hunting and Easter egg thing. But as you grow older, you find out that it still is a pagan thing about the eggs and fertility, but it's also the day where we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a foundation of our faith, the fulfillment of God's promise of salvation, and an ultimate demonstration of his power over sin and death.

8:22 By focusing on the true essence of this celebration, we ensure that our worship remains pure and pleasing to God. So this week, take time to reflect on how you celebrate Easter. Are these traditions you've inherited that don't align with biblical worship? Ask God to reveal areas where you need to refocus your celebration on the resurrection of Jesus. Like, have you gotten so caught up in like a ritualistic thing that you go like, that Jesus is even out of the picture? Have you ever thought too, sometimes Christ is in Christmas, but we don't really celebrate Christ in our Christmas anymore, right?

9:05 So it's like if Christ is not in it, then we kind of lost our focus. So what I'm saying, if Christ is not in your Easter, then maybe we have lost our focus. So the goal here is to, during this season, is to refocus on Jesus. Get your focus back. Ask the Lord, like, how can I get my focus back on you? Okay, how can I make this more about you than the Easter eggs? Yeah, you can still have your Easter eggs. You can still color them. You know, we're not worshiping the egg. We're not worshiping the day. We are worshiping Jesus Christ. Amen. So in our next episode, we'll discuss how the early church navigated the challenge of converting a predominantly pagan world and what lessons we can learn from their successes and mistakes.

9:55 So I'd like to thank you for joining me today on Church Chronicles by Diary of Black Women. If you found this episode insightful, please subscribe, leave a review, and share with someone who might benefit from this discussion. Till next time. Bye-bye.