Theologian's Almanac for Week of April 9, 2023
Welcome to SALT’s “Theologian’s Almanac,” a weekly selection of important birthdays, holidays, and other upcoming milestones worth marking — specially created for a) writing sermons and prayers, b) creating content for social media channels, and c) enriching your devotional life.
For the week of Sunday, April 9:
April 9 is Easter Sunday, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It’s one of the few “moveable feasts” in the Christian calendar, floating to a different Sunday each year. Why? Jesus was said to have risen on the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring — for Christians, a sign that the event’s significance is cosmic in scope, its anniversary depending more on the season and the moon than the numerical date on the calendar.
What’s the meaning of Easter today? For those who despair that death-dealing powers have the upper hand: fear not. Easter means God ultimately is and will be victorious over the powers of death. For those who despair with feelings of isolation and loneliness: fear not. Easter means we are all together in the risen Body of Christ, even if we’re unable to gather or connect. For those who despair that our guilt is too great for God to forgive: fear not. Easter means God has cleared all accounts, liberating humanity from shame, reconciling us to God and each other as God’s children. For those who despair in the midst of pain and anguish: take heart. You are not alone: Jesus suffers with you in solidarity and companionship, and Easter means you will rise with him. For those who despair over a world filled with hate, violence, and scapegoating: be encouraged. In Christ’s passion, God has taken the place of the scapegoat in order to highlight and transform humanity’s violent ways — and Easter means God one day will overcome violence. Indeed, Easter means that God has taken one of the worst things in the world (the Roman cross) and remade it into one of the best (the Tree of Life), a sword into a ploughshare — and if the worst, then also the whole creation in the end! Like the cross, the empty tomb is a great divine mystery, a rising sun dispelling shadows in multiple directions. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
For more on Easter this year, check out SALT’s commentary here.
April 10 is also the birthday of Anne Lamott, beloved author and hilarious, down-to-earth Christian disciple. Here’s some vintage Lamott, perfect for the Lent and Easter seasons (or all year round!): “I heard a preacher say recently that hope is a revolutionary patience; let me add that so is being a writer. Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.” And here’s Lamott’s instant-classic TED talk on “everything I know for sure.”
Asked how the meaning of Easter has changed for her over the years, Lamott answered this way: “When I was 38, my best friend, Pammy, died, and we went shopping about two weeks before she died, and she was in a wig and a wheelchair. I was buying a dress for this boyfriend I was trying to impress, and I bought a tighter, shorter dress than I was used to. And I said to her, ‘Do you think this makes my hips look big?’ and she said to me, so calmly, ‘Anne, you don't have that kind of time.’ And I think Easter has been about the resonance of that simple statement; and that when I stop, when I go into contemplation and meditation, when I breathe again and do the sacred action of plopping and hanging my head and being done with my own agenda, I hear that, ‘You don't have that kind of time,’ you have time only to cultivate presence and authenticity and service, praying against all odds to get your sense of humor back. That's how it has changed for me. That was the day my life changed, when she said that to me.”
April 12 is the day in 1633 that Galileo Galilei was brought before the Inquisition for supporting the idea that the Earth revolves around the sun, rather than the other way around. After agreeing to formally recant, he was sentenced to indefinite house arrest — and died at home eight years later. But what Galileo said in his defense is worth recalling: he insisted that scientific research and Christian faith are entirely compatible, and that in fact, study of the universe would promote the proper interpretation of Scripture. This is the perfect week to remember and affirm his wisdom — and his brilliance. Indeed, legend has it that immediately after he recanted, as he rose from kneeling before his inquisitors, Galileo defiantly whispered, e pur, si muove (“even so, it does move”).
April 13 is the day in 1964 that Sidney Poitier became the first African-American to be awarded the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in “Lilies of the Field,” a film about a group of nuns who come to believe an African-American itinerant worker has been sent to them by God to help them build a chapel.
April 15 is also traditionally tax day in the United States (this year, it’s Tuesday, April 18) — not often understood as a theological event! But taxes, after all, are a primary means by which we, the people, pool and allocate our collective resources for the sake of the community as a whole: bridges and roads, Medicare and the military, food security and public education. The earliest Christian communities also organized themselves with this basic underlying choreography: pooling and allocating (Acts 4:34-35). Exactly how we pool and allocate remains a subject of intense debate, of course — but in any case, while it’s common to grumble about “paying taxes to the government,” in fact our taxes are one of the most concrete, consequential ways we chip in to support one another.
April 15 is also the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci, born in Vinci, Italy, in 1452. A man of multiple interests and talents, he’s best known for his mural, The Last Supper (worth recalling this week in particular, since that supper itself will be commemorated during the previous week, on April 6), and of course the enigmatic Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa hangs today in the Louvre in Paris, typically surrounded by a throng of cell-phone-toting tourists — but just a few feet away is another Leonardo masterpiece that often goes relatively unnoticed: his haunting portrait of John the Baptizer, emerging from the shadows, pointing toward the cross.
April 15 is also the feast day of St. Ruadan (“ruadan” means “red-haired”), considered one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, born in Leinster in the sixth century CE. According to the Book of Leinster (a medieval Irish manuscript), St. Ruadan’s day is when the birds are released from the thrall of winter.