This has turned out to be a good Easter conversation. May I add two more things? Some of us may surely know that the word Easter actually derived from the German pagan goddess, Eostree, which also explains the bunny rabbit. Some scholars point to when Christianity spread to England as the time this celebration came into being, prior to that it was just Passover. Western Christianity, which is primarily what was shaped after Constantine made it the religion of the Roman Empire is basically what we have (with a few amendments like the reformation) and the many threads of Christianity: Easter orthodoxy, Coptic, anabaptist, gnostic forms, etc. are only remotely acknowledged and rarely known in any depth. When I went to seminary Greek was taught and a little Hebrew, but the language Jesus and his disciples spoke, Aramaic, was rarely mentioned let alone examined. It is a more complicated language, more orally understood that by the characters. Emphasis on one syllable or another can change the meaning of the word as well as the context for what is being said. Abwoon (english letters not the Aramaic characters) is the word scholars say Jesus used for God. We got the Greek translation Aba or abba meaning a male. Abwoon is gender neutral and comes in 2 parts, “Ab" was part of a reference to an earlier female goddess among other things and “woon" can be translated to mean the void from which all things come. This would have really blown out the lights in my seminary. Imagine referring to God as Mystery rather than Daddy. George Holcombe geowanda1@me.com "Whatever the problem, community is the answer. There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about." Margaret Wheatley
On Apr 18, 2017, at 4:09 PM, Seth Longacre via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
Thanks, David. I found that helpful.
Seth Longacre sethlongacre@gmail.com <mailto:sethlongacre@gmail.com> Sent from one of my iThingies
On Apr 18, 2017, at 13:53, Karenbueno via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>> wrote:
Well said, David.
Karen Bueno
-----Original Message----- From: David Dunn via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>> To: OE Community <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net <mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>> Sent: Tue, Apr 18, 2017 2:45 pm Subject: [Oe List ...] A footnote to the Lent–Easter journey
A footnote to the Lent-Easter Journey To the extent that we grow into the Genesis affirmation that all creation is good, the Lenten-Easter journey is transformed and transforming. Jesus’s “Lenten Journey” was toward Jerusalem and a confrontation of history, politics, and spirit at the Cross. He wasn’t practicing giving up stuff or penitence for his human frailty. He was practicing discernment of his own life calling and seeking the courage to offer his life to that mission. Lent is about discovering our highest and best selves and the focus of our engagement. It’s a time of opening to what is emerging within us and a season of exploring what keeps us from wholehearted self-offering. Easter is the joyous celebration of the eye-popping inner realization that the Power of Being Itself—the God-Christ-Spirit Word that brought matter to life with energy at the moment of creation—is behind and within all opening, exploration, discovery, and becoming. Lent is the practice of discerning how Creation is transforming our lives and Easter is the celebration of Creation’s infinite grace-filled supply of uplifting and life-giving spirit within flesh. April 18, 2017
David
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"Mystery, possibility, and the power to choose”
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