Easter Sunday — April 20, 2025

Holy Days,

Bible connection

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. — Romans 6:3-5

All about the origin of Easter

Was Easter actually borrowed from a pagan celebration? Did it usurp one?

There is an argument that says so. It largely rests on the supposed pagan associations of the English and German names for the celebration (Easter in English and Ostern in German). It is important to note, however, that in most other European languages, the name for the Christian celebration is derived from the Greek word Pascha, which comes from pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover. Easter is associated with the Jewish Passover festival by virtue of the historical record (Jesus was killed during the Passover festival) and symbolism (Jesus is the ultimate passover sacrifice).

Christians always contextualize their faith in one way or another — we express our message and worship in the language or forms of our culture. But that does not mean we compromise our basic truths. Christians around the world have sought to redeem the local culture for Christ while purging it of practices antithetical to the way of Jesus. After all, Christians speak of “Good Friday,” but they are in no way honoring the worship of the Norse/Germanic queen of the gods Freya (for whom Friday is named) by doing so.

In fact, in the case of Easter, the evidence suggests otherwise: that neither the commemoration of Christ’s death and resurrection nor its name are derived from paganism. The opposite is true, the so-called “pagans” came to see their springtime festival as an expression of new life in Christ.

Easter is a celebration with ancient roots

The usual argument for the pagan origins of Easter is based on a comment made by the Venerable Bede (673-735), an English monk who wrote the first history of Christianity in England, and who is one of our main sources of knowledge about early Anglo-Saxon culture. In De temporum ratione (On the Reckoning of Time, c. 730), Bede wrote this:

In olden times the English people—for it did not seem fitting that I should speak of other nations’ observance of the year and yet be silent about my own nation’s—calculated their months according to the course of the Moon. Hence, after the manner of the Greeks and the Romans, [the months] take their name from the Moon, for the Moon is called mona and the month monath. The first month, which the Latins call January, is Giuli; February is called Solmonath; March Hrethmonath; April, Eosturmonath … Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated “Paschal month” and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.

The first question is whether the actual Christian celebration of Easter is derived from a pagan festival. This is easily answered. The Nordic/Germanic peoples (including the Anglo-Saxons) were comparative latecomers to Christianity. Pope Gregory I sent a missionary enterprise led by Augustine of Canterbury to the Anglo-Saxons in 596/7. The forcible conversion of the Saxons in Europe began under Charlemagne in 772. So if “Easter” (i.e. the Christian Passover festival) was celebrated prior to those dates, any supposed pagan Anglo-Saxon festival of “Eostre” can have no significance. And there is, in fact, clear evidence that Christians celebrated an Easter/Passover festival by the second century, if not earlier. It follows that the Christian Easter/Passover celebration, which originated in the Mediterranean basin, was not unduly influenced by any Germanic pagan festival.

Why the name Easter is not “pagan” 

The second question is whether the name of the holiday “Easter” comes from the blurring of the Christian celebration with the worship of a purported pagan fertility goddess named “Eostre” in English and Germanic cultures. There are several problems with the passage in Bede. He has a sketchy knowledge of pagan festivals, which he freely admitted.

As it turns out, there is no evidence outside of Bede for the existence of this Anglo-Saxon goddess. There is no equivalent goddess in the Norse Eddas or in ancient Germanic paganism from continental Europe. Scholars suggest that the Anglo-Saxon Estor-monath simply means “the month of opening” or “the month of beginnings.” There is no evidence for a pre-Christian festival in the British Isles in March or April.

There is another objection to the claim that Eosturmonath has anything to do with a pagan goddess. Anglo-Saxon days were usually named after gods, such as Wednesday (“Woden’s day”), the names of their months were either calendrical, such as Giuli, meaning “wheel,” referring to the turn of the year; metereological-environmental, such as Solmónath (roughly February), meaning “Mud-Month”; or referred to actions taken in that period, such as Blótmónath (roughly November), meaning “Blood Month,” when animals were slaughtered. No other month was dedicated to a deity, with the exception (according to Bede) of Hrethmonath (roughly March), which he claims was named after the goddess Hrethe. But like Eostre, there is no other evidence for Hrethe, nor any equivalent in Germanic/Norse mythology.

Another problem with Bede’s explanation concerns the Saxons in continental Europe. Einhard (c. 775-840), the courtier and biographer of Charlemagne, tells us that among Charlemagne’s reforms was the renaming of the months. April was renamed Ostarmanoth. Charlemagne spoke a Germanic dialect, as did the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, although their vernacular was distinct. But why would Charlemagne change the old Roman title for the spring month to Ostarmanoth? Charlemagne was the scourge of Germanic paganism. He attacked the pagan Saxons and felled their great pillar Irminsul (after their god Irmin) in 772. He forcibly converted them to Christianity and savagely repressed them when they revolted because of this. It seems very unlikely, therefore, that Charlemagne would name a month after a Germanic goddess.

The name is basically “spring holiday”

One theory for the origin of the name Easter is that the Latin phrase in albis (“in white”), which Christians used in reference to Easter week, found its way into Old High German as eostarum, or “dawn.” There is some evidence of early Germanic borrowing of Latin despite that fact that the Germanic peoples lived outside the Roman Empire. This theory presumes that the word only became current after the introduction of either Roman influence or the Christian faith, which is uncertain. But if accurate, it would demonstrate that the festival is not named after a pagan goddess.

Alternatively, some suggest Eosturmonath simply meant “the month of opening,” which is comparable to the meaning of “April” in Latin. The names of both the Saxon and Latin months (which are calendrically similar) were related to spring, the season when the buds open.

So Christians in ancient Anglo-Saxon and Germanic areas called their Passover holiday what they did—doubtless colloquially at first—simply because it occurred around the time of Eosturmonath/Ostarmanoth. A contemporary analogy can be found in the way Americans refer to December as “the holidays,” or the way people sometimes speak about something happening “around Christmas,” usually referring to the time at the turn of the year. The Christian title “Easter,” then, essentially reflects its general date in the calendar, rather than the Paschal festival having been re-named in honor of a supposed pagan deity.

[Thanks to Anthony McCroy, Christian History, 2009]

More

15 Fact-based reasons to accept the resurrection of Jesus

If you need some celebration tips from the 1950s… [codified by Judy and Fred]

Five minutes from the Bible Project to depict the resurrection in the Gospel of Luke (show the kids!).

What do we do with this?

The Christian commemoration of the Paschal festival rests not on the title of the celebration but on its content—namely, the remembrance of Christ’s death and resurrection. It is Christ’s conquest of sin, death, and Satan that gives us the right to wish everyone “Happy Easter!”

Sometimes we have renamed the day “Resurrection Sunday” so people can get some separation from chicks, bunnies and other fertility symbols. Resurrection Sunday makes candy hidden in baskets full of fake grass seems as innocuous as it should be. Like Jesus followers in the past, we also make our own decisions about how we want to live in our culture and present Jesus to it. Don’t you?

Our general mentality is generosity. We are not only transhistorical (thus, this blog) we are genuinely interested in the genius behind most expressions of life in Christ. Having a joyful celebration of new life budding from the cold earth seems like a good way for people in the northern hemisphere to celebrate resurrection! On the other end of the spectrum, keeping away from faithless imagery and thinking about the most important and spiritually-potent day of the year could be a sincere way to commemorate the Lord’s resurrection. The resurrection is the constant that spans the spectrum.

Corrie ten Boom — April 15

Europe, This century (1937-2025)
Corrie ten Boom in scouting uniform (around 1921). The triangle on her uniform refers to the name of the scouting group: “the triangle girls.”

Bible connection

You are my hiding place;
    you will protect me from trouble
    and surround me with songs of deliverance. —Psalm 32:7

All about Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983)

Corrie ten Boom and her family helped Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II, saving hundreds of lives.

Cornelia “Corrie” ten Boom was born in Haarlem, Netherlands, and grew up in a devout Protestant family. During World War II, she and her family harbored hundreds of Jews to protect them from arrest by Nazi authorities. Betrayed by a fellow Dutch citizen, the entire family was imprisoned. Corrie survived the concentration camp and started a worldwide ministry. She later told her story in a book entitled The Hiding Place.

The ten Boom family lived in the Beje house in Haarlem (short for Barteljorisstraat, the street where the house was located) in rooms above Casper’s watch shop. Family members were strict Calvinists in the Dutch Reformed Church. Faith inspired them to serve society, offering shelter, food and money to those in need. In this tradition, the family held a deep respect for the Jewish community in Amsterdam, considering them “God’s ancient people.”

After the death of her mother and a disappointing romance, Corrie trained to be a watchmaker and in 1922 became the first woman in Holland to be licensed. Over the next decade, in addition to working in her father’s shop, she established a youth club for teenage girls, which provided religious instruction as well as classes in the performing arts, sewing and handicrafts.

In May 1940, the German “blitzkrieg” ran though the Netherlands and the other Low Countries. Within months, the “Nazification” of the Dutch people began and the quiet life of the ten Boom family was changed forever. During the war, their house became a refuge for Jews, students and intellectuals. The façade of the watch shop made the house an ideal front for these activities. A secret room, no larger than a small wardrobe closet, was built into Corrie’s bedroom behind a false wall. The space could hold up to six people, all of whom had to stand quiet and still. A crude ventilation system was installed to provide air for the occupants. When security sweeps came through the neighborhood, a buzzer in the house would signal danger, allowing the refugees a little over a minute to seek sanctuary in the hiding place.

The entire ten Boom family became active in the Dutch resistance, risking their lives harboring those hunted by the Gestapo. Some fugitives would stay only a few hours, while others would stay several days until another “safe house” could be located. Corrie ten Boom became a leader in the movement, overseeing a network of “safe houses” in the country. Through these activities, it was estimated the lives of 800 Jews were saved.

On February 28, 1944, a Dutch informant told the Nazis of the ten Booms’ activities and the Gestapo raided the home. They kept the house under surveillance, and by the end of the day 35 people, including the entire ten Boom family, were arrested, Although German soldiers thoroughly searched the house, they didn’t find the half-dozen Jews safely concealed in the hiding place. The six stayed in the cramped space for nearly three days before being rescued by the Dutch underground.

All the ten Boom family members were incarcerated, including Corrie’s 84-year-old father, who soon died in the Scheveningen prison, located near The Hague. Corrie and her sister Betsie were remanded to the notorious Ravensbrück concentration camp, near Berlin. Betsie died there on December 16, 1944. Twelve days later, Corrie was released for reasons not completely known.

Corrie ten Boom returned to the Netherlands after the war and set up a rehabilitation center for concentration camp survivors. In the Christian spirit to which she was so devoted, she also took in those who had cooperated with the Germans during the occupation. In 1946, she began a worldwide ministry that took her to more than 60 countries. She received many tributes, including being knighted by the queen of the Netherlands. In 1971, she wrote the best-selling book about her experiences during World War II. In 1975, the book was made into a movie starring Jeannette Clift as Corrie and Julie Harris as her sister Betsie.

In 1977, at age 85, Corrie ten Boom moved to Placentia, California. The next year, she suffered a series of strokes that left her paralyzed and unable to speak. She died on her 91st birthday, April 15, 1983. Her passing on this date evokes the Jewish traditional belief that only specially blessed people are granted the privilege of dying on the date they were born.

Quotes

  • Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.
  • Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.
  • When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.
  • Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.
  • The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.
  • Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.
  • Let God’s promises shine on your problems.
  • Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future.
  • Faith is like radar that sees through the fog.
  • Discernment is God’s call to intercession, never to faultfinding.

More

The movie: The Hiding Place

The Maranatha song associated: [link]

The Corrie ten Boom museum [link]

Teaching YWAM trainees:

What do we do with this?

Corrie ten Boom overcame her trauma and proved God’s faithfulness. It propelled her to tell her story and made her world famous. You don’t need to be famous, but don’t you need to tell your story?

How do you know Jesus is faithful? Or have you yet to trust Him?

Holy Week — April 13-20, 2025

Holy Days

What is your cross?https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d4dc37_e048ce61ab9344a8bf780759e145e26a~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_599,h_599,al_c,lg_1,q_80/d4dc37_e048ce61ab9344a8bf780759e145e26a~mv2.jpg If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and ...

Bible connection

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? — Matthew 16:13-26

All about Holy Week

Holy Week is the week immediately before Easter. It begins with Palm Sunday and leads up to Easter Sunday. It is the highlight of the Christian calendar.

The earliest allusion to the custom of marking this whole week with special observances is  found in the Apostolic Constitutions from Syria, dating from the second half of the 3rd century.

The Constitutions are a form of  of early church literature (1st to 5th century) called “orders.” Their purpose was to promote “apostolic” prescriptions on matters of moral conduct, liturgy and Church organization. They are written in the name of the authority they evoke (technical name: pseudepigrapha). Many orders, like the Constitutions purport to have been handed down by the Twelve Apostles.  Apart from the Apostolic Constitutions, which was made known and printed before 1563, all the other early texts of orders were discovered and published in the 19th or early 20th century.

  • In the few lines from the Constitutions about Holy Week, abstinence from meat is commanded for the week. On Friday and Saturday there is to be a full fast.
  • Dionysius Alexandrinus in his letter of 260 (which the Eastern Church preserves as inspired) refers to the 91 fasting days in the calendar, implying that the observance of them had already become an established usage in his time.
  • By the time of of the Christian Emperor Theodosius (reigned 379 to 395), who called the Council of Nicaea, the Codex Theodosianus orders all actions of law to cease for the seven days before and after Easter.
  • One of the “best sellers” of the 300’s, The Pilgrimage of Etheria/Egeria (about a woman who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land), details the whole observance of Holy Week at that time. [It is worth noting that the name in the Wiki link after the slash above also titles the Egeria Project, which has usurped the name for a  metadata exchange computer program].

The first days of the “great week” to emerge into general observance were Good Friday, and then the Great Sabbath/Holy Saturday. Following the usual custom of the Church, the eve of Easter took on its own significance and a vigil became traditional. In many places the vigil focused on the hope the Lord’s return would occur on an Easter Day.

We have found common cause with the Moravian Church whose Holy Week observances are extensive and immersive. Congregations follow the life of Christ through His final week in daily gatherings dedicated to readings from a harmony of the Gospel stories, responding to the readings with hymns, prayers and litanies. They begin on the eve of Palm Sunday and culminate at the Easter sunrise service. The practice began with the Moravians in 1732.

More

Wikipedia has a good description of Holy Week [link]

A tour operator in Jerusalem offers a nice video for people who could not get to the Holy Land for Holy Week during the pandemic:

Stations of the Cross for Good Friday. This walk of following Jesus to the cross (and our own death and resurrection) comes in many forms. Here is one from the Catholic bishops [link]. Here is one our former church created for doing at home during a pandemic [link]. Here is an art-filled video of the Stations by the Holy Land Franciscans [link]

What do we do with this?

You might be connected to a church that observes Holy Week. Get involved. Go to all the meetings. If you are not connected, research who observes these days in your area and join them; it is all one Church, one history, one story even if people cordon off territory for themselves. Many churches have Maundy Thursday and Good Friday observances. The Catholics may include a Stations of the Cross liturgy on Friday. The Orthodox churches are known for their Easter vigils.

Don’t be afraid to create your own journey through the week with Jesus. The way he took his own journey in spite of the pressure to stay safe is an example for all of us. Read the portions of the Bible above and imagine how you can get involved and involve your family and friends. Here are some ideas:

  • Monday: Overturn some tables. This might be a good day to protest: Pray in front of an oppressive institution or statue. Have a letter-writing exercise after dinner.
  • Tuesday: Organize a meeting to read through all the great teaching recorded as part of the Lord’s last week. Maybe act out parts of it. Sing songs connected to it. Point it at people or organizations that need to hear it. Address your difficulty with following it.
  • Wednesday: Emulate the woman who anointed Jesus. Fill your house with fragrance for an hour. Encourage each other to face the daily deaths we all face as we follow.
  • Thursday: Re-enact the Last Supper in some way. There is lots of advice on the internet for how to do this: [kids] [small group of adults]. For you, simple might be fine: you could read the scripture and have your own version of the communion ceremony.
  • Friday: You could journey through the stations of the cross [mentioned above]. You could take off work from noon to three and sit with Jesus in silence. You could watch a movie that includes the crucifixion [Zeferelli’s 1977 Europe-wide cast does well in Jesus of Nazareth — start at 3:45 for all of holy week, at 4:55 for trials and crucifixion].
  • Saturday: A symbolic day of silence one day a year might be perfect. You could bury a statue of Jesus with the kids and let them dig him up on Easter. Explore the legends that grew up around Joseph of Arimathea [Glastonbury] [Saintes Maries de la Mer].

Howard Thurman — April 10

North America, This century (1937-2025)

Bible connection

Read Isaiah 5:1-7

I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.

All about Howard Thurman (1899-1981)

Born in Florida in 1899, Howard Thurman was raised primarily by his grandmother—a former slave. Even as a child, he showed signs of a vibrant spiritual life early, and would read the Bible to her. Thurman tells the story in his most famous work: Jesus and the Disinherited, how his mother would not permit him to read anything by the Apostle Paul (besides 1 Corinthians 13) because of the abusive theology that the white preachers would perpetrate on her and other enslaved people—biblical mandates to be “good slaves.”

Thurman grew as a pastor and academic, and became a man many people call a mystic. He had a significant bond with Quaker leader and pacifist Rufas Jones of Haverford College (the key leader of the organization that became the American Friends Service Committee). That connection moved Thurman to lead a delegation to meet with Mohandas Gandhi.

As a theologian, Thurman was a pioneer in articulating Jesus’ mission of liberation for oppressed people. He taught that “if you ever developed a cultivated will with spiritual discipline the flame of freedom would never perish.”  He served as one of the pastors of the first intentionally interracial church in the U.S. — The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco.  Through his friendship with Martin King, Thurman became a spiritual adviser and mentor to his son, Martin Luther King, Jr.  Howard Thurman is usually credited with developing the nonviolence theories and tactics that were central to the Civil Rights Movement. He wrote over twenty books besides speeches and articles before he died on this day in 1981.

Listening to Howard Thurman

  • Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace. —from Meditations of the Heart
  • Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
  • Community cannot for long feed on itself; it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond, their unknown and undiscovered brothers.
  • During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism.

More

The Howard Thurman Digital Archive [Emory University]

Recent books about Howard Thurman [Christian Century]

“Life Goes On” from Meditations of the Heart. 

A sermon (and also a book):

Here is a biography from PBS:

What do we do with this?

Listen. Thurman was a good listener to God and others, and to his own genius. You have all those resources today, as well. Listen to them and see if you are encouraged and directed.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer — April 9

Europe, This century (1937-2025)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer at 18 in 1924

Bible connection

Read Matthew 5:38-42

Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

All about Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his twin sister were born in a Prussian city (now in Poland) in 1906. His family moved to Berlin a few years later. Bonhoeffer earned a doctorate in theology at the age of 21 from one if the most prestigious universities in the world at the time – the University of Berlin.  He began to work as a pastor and also continued to pursue academic studies which took him to Spain and then to Harlem. Dissatisfied with the lack of rigor at Union Seminary, where he was teaching and doing post graduate work, he became a disciple and Sunday school teacher at Abyssinian Baptist Church, where his love for spirituals developed along with his deep desire for the Church to change the world.

Two years after his return to Germany, the Nazi Party rose to power. Bonhoeffer was overtly critical of the regime and a resister from the beginning.  While Hitler and the Nazis infiltrated and found a stronghold in the German Church, Bonhoeffer was building something new in Germany through the Confessing Church (wiki). After only a few months living under Nazi control, Bonhoeffer moved to London to work on international ecumenical work. He was very frustrated with the state of the German church.

Two years later, rather than going to study non-violent civil disobedience under Gandhi, he returned to Germany, responding to the repeated pleas and demands of Swiss theologians and Karl Barth, who’s battle cry, “Revelation, not religion!” would remain a basic element of Bonhoeffer’s theology to the end. Barth was sent back to Switzerland and Bonhoeffer found the Confessing Church to be under fire by the Nazis.  He soon lost his credentials to teach because he was a “pacifist and enemy of the state.”  He began underground seminaries and further resisted.

Bonhoeffer became more involved in direct resistance and was arrested in 1943.  He was part of a group that was responsible both for attempts at liberating Jews and attempting to assassinate Hitler. His pacifism has been widely written about, especially in light of this glaring contradiction. In the last 10 years historians have disputed the assumption that Bonheoffer deserted his pacifism for the practicality of assassination. See Mark Theissen’s book: Bonhoeffer the Assassin?: Challenging The Myth, Recovering His Call To Peacemaking (2013).

Dietrich was executed on this day in 1945, two weeks before US soldiers liberated the  camp where he was imprisoned.  He is largely considered a martyr for the faith and for peace, and for being a Nazi resister.

Two of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s most influential works are Life Together and The Cost of Discipleship – this quote is from the latter:

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

More

Want to watch a small documentary about his life? Here is a [link] Another from 2003 [link] One premiered in 2024 [link]

Bonhoeffer speaks out against Hitler [link]

His philosophy, theology and books. [link]

Biographer interview. [link]

What do we do with this?

Bonhoeffer applied himself to unmasking the lies of his culture and the ideologies that took God’s place. It was not easy, since the church was generally in line with them. In spite of state threat and lack of support from the church, he took risks to teach the truth, even moving back to Germany when he would have been safer elsewhere.

That kind of courage is demonstrated in the Bible repeatedly by people whose loves are trained on God. What threat do you feel from those you know and from the great “other” of the powers that be when it comes to expressing your faith in word and deed? Pray for courage. Pray that we build a confessing church in a culture of lies.

Pandita Ramabai — April 5

Asia, The Modern Era (1227-1936),

Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati 1858-1922 front-page-portrait.jpg

Bible connection

Shout for joy, you heavens;
    rejoice, you earth;
    burst into song, you mountains!
For the Lord comforts his people
    and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
    the Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
    and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you! — Isaiah 49:13-15

Ramabai on an Indian post stamp

All about Pandita Ramabai (1858-1922)

The Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice name Pandita Ramabai  as one of their favorite saints of all time. She was an Indian activist, evangelist and one of the first modern Pentecostals. Over a hundred years before Malala Yousafzai, she campaigned for women’s right to education, and she was extremely active in helping the poor and those oppressed under the Hindu caste system.

Born in a Brahmin (highest caste) family in south India, in what is now the state of Karnataka, she started to study at an early age and learned Sanskrit along with sacred Hindu texts, astronomy, physiology and more. This was controversial for a woman to do, but her father encouraged her as he saw how much she was learning about society, religion and activism. She came to be called by the honorific title “pandita” which denotes an Indian scholar.

In 1883 she went to England and taught Sanskrit at an Anglican monastery in Wantage. She met Jesus there. “I realized,” she later wrote, “after reading the fourth chapter of St. John’s Gospel, that Christ was truly the Divine Saviour he claimed to be, and no one but He could transform and uplift the downtrodden women of India.”

As she returned to her home country, she bought a piece of land outside Pune and started a Christian social community for young widows called Mukti, Sanskrit for liberation. She also helped people who were orphaned, disabled or homeless. When a famine hit India in 1896, Ramabai rescued over a thousand people and brought many of them to the Mukti mission.

In 1905, Mukti was transformed by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Hundreds were saved at the community, and they prayed, worshiped and studied the Word of God in ecstasy. Miracles started to happen as the Holy Spirit gave gifts to the girls at Mukti. This happened at the same time as the mighty Azusa Street revival was going on in Los Angeles. The groups somehow got in touch with each other, no doubt by God’ grace. In the January 1908 edition of Azusa Street’s paper The Apostolic Faith, this report from Ramabai was provided:

“One Sunday, as I was coming out of the church, after the morning service, I saw some girls standing near the door of a worker’s room. They seemed greatly excited and wondering. I soon found out the cause. A girl was praying aloud, and praising God in the English language. She did not know the language.”

Many Pentecostal leaders, went to Mukti and witnessed the amazing outpouring among the poor and marginalized. The Mukti community became the cornerstone of Indian Pentecostal mission, like Los Angeles was in the United States and Oslo in Europe. Thousands were blessed through what God was doing there. Ramabai continued to preach the Gospel, save the poor and campaign for women’s rights in the power of the Holy Spirit until she died on this day in 1922.

More

  • Here is a nice promotional video from Mukti today:

  • Here is another video with nice pics but probably not in your language. [video]

What do we do with this?

Pray: Lord, help me become as passionate about You and the poor as Pandita Ramabai was, and let her example be an inspiration to many.

Pray for the needy in India and around the world. Thank God for people able to creatively beg the wealthy for money to care for the poor.

Consider again what you think and feel about the movement of the Holy Spirit in the world. It has been counterfeited, monetized and corrupted by power-hungry and greedy people. Does that cause you to disown it? Or does the abuse make its ongoing work even more miraculous?

Martin Luther King Jr. — April 4

North America, This century (1937-2025)
On April 3, 1968, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., second from right, stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place. From left: Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, King and Ralph Abernathy.

Bible connection

Read Matthew 5:43-48

You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.

All about Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

Dr. King was a prophet and an apostle. Born into a pastor’s family in Atlanta, GA, He grew into a scholar, preacher, and community organizer. In 1954, when King was 25, he became a pastor in Montgomery, Alabama. The next year, the Montgomery Bus Boycott began and King was mixing it up with many people who became prominent leaders in the American Civil Rights Movement.

Martin Luther King is famous for his speeches and published works. His faith drew tens of thousands into passionate civil engagement through marches, rallies, prayer, worship, and non-violent civil disobedience. He earned global respect of people from all walks of life. His application of tactics for non-violence change were acts of transformation rooted in the way of Jesus.

A decade after his public work had begun, King was deeply entrenched in the national movement to legally end state-sponsored racial discrimination perpetrated during the Jim Crow era. He was key in the formation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

King caused controversy in the movement because he was drawn to what he believed were two key issues that needed addressing: ending the Vietnam War and economic rights for Black people. Many opposed him because his “branching out” weakened chances of getting more effective laws in place to protect other civil liberties and alienated some sympathetic whites—notably elected officials.

On this day in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis when he was 39 years old. His legacy continues to inspire and urge people to work for justice.

Quotes:

  • Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
  • Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
  • I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
  • I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
  • Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
  • I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
  • Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
  • We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
  • In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
  • Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.

More

American Experience videos

Hear him for yourself: Anthology on Spotify.

King Center Books and Bibliography

King on Non-violence

MLK Memorial issues. (Behind Atlantic paywall.)

Nobel Peace Prize speech and video

What do we do with this?

Find out about the ongoing struggle. Start with the ACLU. Read Kimberlee Johnson’s article about the church’s experience after the murder of George Floyd [link].

Read The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness or Trouble I’ve Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism

Ask God how to apply the tactic of nonviolent transformation in this era of polarized politics and overt racist rhetoric. Is there a way you can make the effort it takes to get over the color line and love?

Use your vacation for a civil rights pilgrimage. The Legacy Sites in Montgomery, AL are especially notable.

Moussa Gana — April 3

Africa, This century (1937-2025)
On the Logone River. By YACOUB DOUNGOUS – Own work

Bible

There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. – Hebrews 11:35-40

All about Moussa Gana (1920-1975)

In 1972 The first and only president of Chad, Francois Tombalbaye, changed his name to N’garta. He was following the example of Mobutu Sese Seko of what was now called Zaire in a program called authentcite. In his quest to Africanize Chad, he renamed Fort-Lamy N’Djamena and began to force the civil service to undergo yondo, initiation rites customary among a minority of his own ethnic group, the Sara people.

Moussa Gana was a vocal Christian opponent of Tombalbaye’s policies. On April 1 of 1975, local law enforcement authorities arrested him. Gana told his guards, “For more than forty years since I have been in this land, I have never offended you. My work was to announce the Good News of God so that you would abandon your sinful ways and receive God’s salvation. But you refused to listen and now you want to kill me. ‘Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.’” He then put himself in the hole the soldiers had dug for his grave and asked one of his cousins to give him a blanket. The soldiers threw Gana a Bible and buried him alive, declaring that his God had been buried with him. Yondo initiates danced on Gana’s grave to celebrate their victory. Witnesses claimed Gana could be heard for three days groaning under the dirt shoveled on him.

When he was young, Moussa Gana went to Nigeria, where there were many more opportunities than in his homeland in the most southern region of Chad, where French colonials forced the locals to cultivate cotton. In Nigeria, Gana became a Protestant Christian. Between 1930 and 1935 he came back to Chad and settled in in birthplace, Madana.

He is considered to be the first missionary to the area. His mission was completely African and not sponsored by any foreigners. The more successful he was, the more local chiefs and spiritual authorities criticized Gana for introducing a foreign religion that threatened to destroy  their own beliefs, The people were already threatened by the aggressive imposition of Islam coming form the north. This demarcation line between Islam and Christianity is still an active source of conflict today.

At that time, the village believed the nearby Pende (which they named Lao or “dangerous”) River was inhabited by a spirit and anyone who fished or bathed in it would die.  Moussa Gana and his fellow believers decided to organize a fishing ceremony in the Lao. The whole village considered this act to be a provocation. But the organizers believed the Bible taught that humans were given authority over Creation (Genesis 1v.28). When the day came, very early in the morning, the church gathered on the river’s edge and sang a war song like the children of Israel during the conquest of the city of Jericho: Ji ted ro Lao ge ri Jesu Kristi (we  conquer Lao in the name of Jesus Christ). As they went back and forth several times along the riverbank, many hippos came out of the water and fled.

Moussa then ordered the Christians to start fishing and they did so for three days. During this time, the village waited in vain for Lao to cast a curse on the Christians. On the fourth day, the whole village also started fishing. This great event led many people to follow Jesus. Many other villages in the Madana region became Christians. It was the beginning of decades of fruitful church building.

The Tombalbaye changed his political party to become the National Movement for Cultural and Social Revolution (MNRCS). Everything was to return to its African roots. Western culture was to be renounced and traditional dances and practices were to be revived, the yondo was central to this. The goal was to transform the mentality of Chadians so they could take responsibility for their destiny and achieve harmonious development. It was a furtherance of Tombalbaye’s brutal reign.

At a conference held in Doyaba (in his homeland, Sarh), President Tombalbaye accused Christians of being the lackeys of white missionaries: “Every Christian is required to go to initiation, because an uninitiated man is imperfect. However, I will see the opponents, if they will be capable of carrying the cross of Jesus Christ.”  In December of 1973 an order suspended all activities of the Mid-Mission Church in Chad. All Christians were to be initiated, by force, if necessary. Those who refused to submit were mistreated or buried alive. Moussa Gana was one of the latter.

Ten days later, a coup d’état broke out and President N’garta Tombalbaye was killed.

More

Mennonites learning from present-day Christians in Chad [link]

Evangelicals from the 20th Century in Chad [link]

The source for this entry is mainly from The Dictionary of African Biography.

What do we do with this?

It is surprising that the story of Moussa Gana survives. There is very little history documented of the people just south of the Sahel, in some of the poorest regions of the world.  Standing up to authoritarian regimes continues to strain the everyday lives of Christians all over the world. Moussa is an inspiration for us.

This map above, from the Lausanne Committee, demonstrates the demarcation line Moussa Gana was already experiencing in the 1930’s. The desert has been moving south. Power hungry movements have moved into the chaos and seized power from weak , impoverished governments.  Southern Chad, home of Moussa, found its precious water sources despoiled by Western mining interests. Pray for the church, there; they are under constant pressure to hide out and are generally disorganized.

 

John Leonhard Dober — April 1

Europe, The Modern Era (1227-1936),

Bible connection

Read Acts 13:16-52

Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us:

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
    that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

All about John Leonhard Dober (1706-1766)

Let’s celebrate one of the Moravian Brethren’s first residents in the Americas who then was part of their amazing and extensive missionary efforts in the 1700’s. As you know, the Moravians are still alive and well in the United States. A main center for them is just up the road in Bethlehem, PA.

Leonhard Dober was born on March 7, 1706, in Bavaria, Germany. Like his father, Johann, Leonhard was trained as a potter.

We do not know how his older brother, Martin. heard about a new community in Herrnhut. But when Leonhard was nineteen years old, he walked 315 miles to join him there. The community had been founded by Protestant refugees from Moravia just a few years earlier. By 1727 about half of the population of Herrnhut came from other parts of Germany. Other members of the Dober family soon joined Leonhard and Martin in this vibrant Christian community: their parents, Johann and Anna Barbara in 1730, and their younger brother Andreas in 1733.

In 1731 a life-changing event moved Leonhard in a new direction. A former African slave from St. Thomas named Anton visited Herrnhut. Count Zinzendorf, on whose land the village was built, had become acquainted with Anton in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he was employed as a servant. Anton, who was baptized, impressed Zinzendorf and his traveling companions with his accounts of the situation on St. Thomas where Africans lived under the harshest of conditions. Zinzendorf sent Anton to Herrnhut where he told the congregation about his sister on St. Thomas who was “eager to learn about Christianity if only God would send someone to teach her.”

Leonhard felt he should be the person to go to the Caribbean island and tell the slaves about their Savior. The Church, however was not quick to rush into such an enterprise, and it took another year until Dober and David Nitschmann, his fellow missionary, received permission to leave. The day they left Herrnhut, August 21, 1732, marks the beginning of the remarkable missionary work of the Moravian Church.

After being sent out by Count Zinzendorf, the two traveled from Herrnhut to Copenhagen, Denmark, where their plan initially met with strong opposition. When asked by a court official how they would support themselves, Nitschmann replied,

“We shall work as slaves among the slaves.”

“But,” said the official, “that is impossible. It will not be allowed. No white man ever works as a slave.”

“Very well,” replied Nitschmann, “I am a carpenter, and will ply my trade.”

After some difficulty, the missionaries found support from the Danish Queen (a friend of Zinzendorf) and her court. Even though the Danish West Indian Company refused to grant them passage, a ship was eventually procured. They left Copenhagen on Oct 8, 1732 and arrived in St. Thomas two months later on December 13. While in St. Thomas, they lived frugally and preached to the slaves, and had some success.

Some still say they succeeded in selling themselves into slavery and were never heard form again. But Nitschmann returned to Europe four months after arriving. Dober remained until 1734 when he was called back to Germany to become General Elder, a position he held until September of 1741. Other Moravian missionaries continued the work, establishing churches on St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John’s, Jamaica, Antigua, Barbados, and St. Kitts. Moravian missionaries baptized 13,000 converts before any other missionaries arrived on the scene.

Dober served the Moravian Church in many places. He worked in Amsterdam where he tried to evangelize the Jewish inhabitants of that city (1738-39). He was appointed head of Moravian activities in the Netherlands (1741-45), then in England (1745-1746) and later in Silesia (1751-58). He was also ordained a bishop of the Church in 1747. After Zinzendorf’s death, Dober became a member of the Directorate of the Unity – a position he held until he died in Herrnhut on April 1, 1766.

Dober’s letter describing his motivation for going to St. Thomas says:

Since it is desired of me to make known my reason, I can say that my disposition was never to travel during this time [that period in his life], but only to ground myself more steadfastly in my Savior; that when the gracious count came back from his trip to Denmark and told me about the slaves, it gripped me so that I could not get free of it. I vowed to myself that if one other brother would go with me, I would become a slave, and would tell him so, and [also] what I had experienced from our Savior: that the word of the cross in its lowliness shows a special strength to souls. As for me, I thought: even if helpful to no one in it [my commitment] I could still give witness through it of obedience to our Savior! I leave it to the good judgment of the congregation and have no other ground than this I thought: that on the island there still are souls who cannot believe because they have not heard.

More

A lesson from the Greenbay Sunday School in Antigua:

The movie First Fruits (1982) Tells the story.

What do we do with this?

Herrnhut is a good model, don’t you think? Radical Christians crossing lines of nationality and race, prayer, community and imaginative mission worldwide. That’s good Christianity in any era! How are we doing?

Is God is calling you to some new obedience? What will you do about it? You can start by letting others know — even if it takes a long time to be sent into it, it is good to have someone backing you up (and maybe holding you accountable!).

John Donne — March 31

Europe, The Modern Era (1227-1936)
Young John Donne by an unknown artist ca. 1595

Bible connection

I am a rose of Sharon,
    a lily of the valleys.

As a lily among brambles,
    so is my love among maidens.

As an apple tree among the trees of the wood,
    so is my beloved among young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
    and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
He brought me to the banqueting house,
    and his intention toward me was love. — Song of Solomon 2:1-4

All about John Donne (1572-1631)

During his 10-year service as dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Black Plague repeatedly swept through London—three waves—killing tens of thousands with each recurrence. For months Donne thought he would surely be a victim of the disease, himself. This period was just one of his many trying times. Throughout his life, he withstood financial ruin, the destruction of his family, religious persecution, and other plagues. Yet, he became one of England’s greatest love poets, and one of the greatest preachers of the 1600s.

John Donne was born to an old Roman Catholic family when anti-Catholicism was running high in England. At age 2, his grand-uncle was hanged for being a priest. His father died of more natural causes when he was 4. His younger brother Henry died in prison, having been arrested for sheltering a priest. Donne himself, a noteworthy student at both Oxford and Cambridge, was refused a degree at both schools because of his faith.

Donne’s youthful response to these calamities was to reject his Catholicism. But neither did he accept the Protestantism of his family’s persecutors. Instead, he walked the line between cynical rebel and honest truthseeker, listing the pitfalls of various denominations and sects in his first book of poetry, Satires [see complete works online]. At the same time, he lived a brazenly sensual life, writing some of the most erotic English poetry ever written.

Sometime during this period, Donne converted to the Church of England, and in 1596 sailed as a gentleman-adventurer on a naval expedition against Spain. When he returned, he was appointed the private secretary to the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, sat in Queen Elizabeth I’s last Parliament, made connections, and continued his lustful ways. Then England’s greatest love poet fell in love.

Her name was Anne More—the niece (by marriage) of the wife of his boss. As she was only 17 (Donne was then nearly 30), they married in secret. Her father was furious and had Donne immediately thrown into jail and removed from his post. Imprisoned, he wrote a characteristic pun, “John Donne, Anne Donne, Undone.”

Donne was quickly released. The lovers reunited and lived in poverty for the next 13 years. Adding to their poverty, Anne bore 12 children (five of whom died in childhood). Donne, plagued by headaches, intestinal cramps, and gout, fell into a deep depression. His longest literary work during that period was an essay endorsing and contemplating suicide: “Whensoever any affliction assails me, methinks I have the keys of my prison in mine own hand and no remedy presents itself so soon to my heart as mine own sword.”

During this time, he also began studying religion more closely. One of two anti-Catholic works he published, Pseudo-Martyr, earned him the favor of King James I because it argued Catholics could pledge allegiance to the king without renouncing their faith.

The object of his poetry now became God, and he employed the same degree of ardor and amorousness as ever, since, He reasoned, “God is love.” He took a page from Solomon, whom he observed “was amorous, and excessive in the love of women: when he turned to God, he departed not utterly from his old phrase and language, but … conveys all his loving approaches and applications to God.”

Thus, even some of his “Holy Sonnets” had amorous overtones:

Batter my heart, three-person’d God; for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new …
Take me to you, imprison me, for I
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Friends encouraged Donne, deemed by some critics to be a pornographer, to become a priest in the Church of England. Donne repeatedly refused, lamenting that “some irregularities of my life have been so visible to some men.” But when King James refused to employ him anywhere but the church, Donne relented. He was granted a doctorate of divinity from Cambridge and took his first parish job in 1616.

The following year, Anne died. Grief-stricken, Donne pledged never to marry again and threw himself at his work. It seems to have done wonders for his vocation. By 1621 he was dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the foremost preacher of his day. One hundred sixty of his sermons still survive.

Older John donne — Late 17th century copy of Isaac Oliver portrait.

In 1623 John Donne fell seriously ill and believed he was dying of the plague. Unable to read but able to write, he penned his famous Devotions upon Emergent Occasions. In it, he records hearing church bells tolling a declaration of death, which he mistook to be an announcement of his own demise. When he realized they were for another, he penned one of literature’s most famous lines: “No man is an island, entire of himself; … therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Eight years later, the bell did toll for Donne, who died of stomach cancer about a month after preaching his famous “Death’s Duel” sermon. Though he has occasionally been accused of an obsession with death (a claim backed up by his 54 songs and sonnets, 32 of which center on the topic), his poetry, sermons, and other writings clearly show his affinity for what lay beyond the tolling bells:

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so …
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

More

Poetry Foundation bio

David Barnes reads the Holy Sonnets

An interesting bio from an English magazine editor:

What do we do with this?

Donne is nothing if not passionate. Consider how you FEEL about God and others⁠—and your own plight in this world. There is the sense in Donne’s work of personal, heartfelt relationships⁠—even in the poems there is often a dialogue going on, sometimes internal, often with a person outside the poem. What are your internal dialogues, in particular like? And how do they lead you to relate to God?

Write a poem yourself. What literary art would you use to express your longing for God and the feelings you feel when you live among the tragedies of life?