Also, to be sort-of fair, this "Transgender Day of Visibility" has been a thing on March 31 for at least fifteen years, so it's not like the Biden administration proclaimed it or made it up themselves.
Also, to be sort-of-fair, the White House issues many such proclamations in the past 36 hours to recognize such things as National Sexual Assault and Prevention Month, Arab American Heritage Month, Cesar Chavez Day, National Child Abuse Prevention Month, Care Workers Recognition Month, Month of the Military Child, and something called "Second Chance Month."
I think "National Transgender Visibility Month" is largely horsecrap, but I also have to wonder about people in the media or on social media who are getting everyone worked up over this. As we've been discussing here lately, all these people on social media furious about this aren't really credible unless they're actually going to church themselves this Easter.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Søren Kierkegaard is the greatest philosopher who ever lived, and he gave me the entirety of the epistemology that I needed to become a Christian. I think that everyone in the world, both believers and heathens, should read his magnum opus, *Concluding Unscientific Postscript*. It was one of those life-changing books for me, anyway.
It's somewhat ironic that you linked Søren with a call to go to church, though. If I recall, he stopped going by the end, because he didn't want to encourage the charade that merely going was all it meant to be a Christian. But I guess that circumstances are a little different in America today than they were in Denmark at that time, now that going to church is a voluntarily accepted discipline rather than a passive social norm.
Also, an anecdote: when I mentioned yesterday that I went to church, more than one well-meaning heathen wished me a "happy Good Friday"—which, of course, suggested to me that they had no idea what the day is about. I had to gently point out how that wasn't quite the adjective they were looking for.
Welllllll...I share your thought about attaching "happy" to it. Because that day is indeed a grim one, especially for those who experienced it. However, holiday habitual greeting rituals aside, it is only grim, or at least its grimmest, when you consider that it is the opening act, not the grand finale.
I've let that slip out my mouth a couple of times, before reflecting on it and wincing. But the fact they knew the holiday was there and acknowledged it to someone is a positive.
Friday may look grim, but the show's not over, folks. Sunday is coming. Smile, things are just getting really good.
Oh, for sure: knowing what comes next, it's hard to even feel sad about His death, because I'm like, "Okay, so now He has just arrived at Hell, and oh man, that place sure isn't happy to see Him."
But I try (impossible as it is) to get into the headspace of the apostles, who did not know what was going to come next. They thought it was well and truly over. So even if we know what comes next, I find value in at least attempting to forget that for a moment, so as to better understand the full impact of the Resurrection.
“When Isaiah saw his Lord, he cried out, ‘O Son of God, who has dyed your garments red as blood?’ Jesus then replied, ‘I have trampled death itself to save my loved ones, and the blood of conquered death has stained my garments.”
So risen Jesus basically says to Isaiah, “Oh, this?—don’t worry, it isn’t My blood. . . .”
And the final act of Jesus before he died was to protect His mother from poverty and destitution. He said, “behold woman, here is your son (the Apostle John)”, and he said to the Apostle he loved “(John), behold, here is your mother.” And that was that. It is hard to imagine the grief and sorrow she had that very moment.
A few years ago, someone (was it Rod?) posted a video from an Orthodox service of mourning for Good Friday. It was haunting, and helped to recapture some of what the disciples must have felt.
In re: "Happy Good Friday". I've looked into origin of day's name. Apparently it came to English by way of Martin Luther who preferred substituting "Guter Freitag" (Good Friday) for the traditional German name (still used today) of Karfreitag (Sorrowful Friday) as it was good for us that God died for our sins.
I just found it particularly jarring because at my Maronite church, the service is very much a funeral. Most of us are dressed in black, and we process around the church with a large icon of His body, and it ends with us placing flowers on His grave. (There's also the Lebanese dirge going on.) So sure, I guess it's "good" in the high theological sense, but also, no one says "happy funeral".
The Orthodox service is also rather funerary, including a procession with the epitaphios, an altar cloth that depicts the burial of Christ. Though there's a definite hint that this burial is not the end of the story. The service ends with the reading of Ezekiel 37, the vision of the dry bones.
In Orthodoxy the day is known as Great, or Great and Holy, Friday. In my first Holy Week of Orthodoxy a young convert and a sort of early version of an Orthobro corrected me when I said "Good Friday".
Especially touching are the chanting of Engomia, the lovely three melodies with words in the voice of the Theotokos and her grief at viewing her beloved son. “Wither is thy beauty?”
I came across this haunting audio, with English subtitles. Simeon did say, to Mary, "a sword will pierce through your own soul also". (Luke 2:35). Westerners tend to gloss over this aspect, since we know what happens next. Martin Luther had the highest regard for her, and (unknown to most today, regrettably), the Smalcald articles, among the Lutheran Confessions, even maintain that Mary remained ever-virgin.
Good Friday is “good” because that is when Jesus declared “It is finished” as his dying command. Satan failed. What was finished? Death, sickness, hate, war, violence, Satan’s power over us, etc…. We need to wait a little while until our bodies give up. But Jesus’ death on the cross is the assurance of our everlasting life with Him in eternity. Satan can torture our bodies and even kill us, but Satan can not touch the soul of a true Christian brother or sister. To be absent from our bodies is to present with the Lord. As I am now an older man, I see this more and more.
I mostly agree with you, but there's always been some major areas of ignorace and wrong popular belief. For example the popular notion that people become angels when they go to Heaven goes back a long ways.
In recent decades, as averred by at least one theologian who, I think, was correct, the variant - a moral, therapeutic, deistic American variant - is that at death, everyone goes to Heaven.
For Christians, the idea of Hell shrivels us emotionally, but I think no one can have told another person the Gospel unless he has told his interlocutor about Hell. The idea of extinction seems just barely defensible from Scripture - and God knows I hope it is what Hell is - but Universalism is not.
Happy Resurrection Day, Jon, though I know your Easter is two or three weeks away.
A quick aside: I am pleased to report that the inaugural meeting of the Austin chapter of the Rod Dreher Fan Club was held Thursday afternoon in a local watering hole. Sethu and I met up and vainly tried to solve the world's problems over a few pints (well, I had to stick to iced tea only because I was driving). I must report that Sethu is as an interesting and thoughtful chap in person as he is on this Substack. It does the heart good to interact with one another in the non-virtual world.
It is so important to make these real-life connections as well! Hopefully I'll be doing it before too long with it least a person or two from this board, but it sure would have been neat to meet them two of you as well!
Are you familiar with Malort? It's a Chicago specialty, and it has a reputation for tasting like death.
(Nah, it's not actually that bad—just very bitter and made from wormwood. Think of it like a spectrum stretching from Jager to Fernet to beyond, and that's where Malort is at.)
My son wants to take a trip down to Austin for the comedy scene surrounding Joe Rogan's Mothership. I'd go with him for a meet up with you guys, though I'm a much better listener than talker.
Great article. I'm going to church tomorrow and have semi-returned to religious events as my dad joined our local choir about 5 years ago and I've been drawn more and more back because of the people who attend (who tend to be more social, hard-working, kind and ready to help others than the average). I can't say I've felt drawn for personal religious reasons, but when my son was born I could only look around at the spiritual and material emptiness everywhere else and couldn't deny that religion had more to offer. I know that sounds too transactional, but the effect has been that I try to offer myself to help with different church projects in return.
As there is Jewish heritage from my mum's side, we are also joining a group for Passover this year as well for the same reasons; whilst there is good and bad amongst all of us I find that in everyday religious groups you find the best people who make you want to be better - something I want to pass onto my children.
Good comment. If you're pushing back on the culture's insistence that you not be involved with organized religion and religious traditions, then you're pointed in the right direction.
It's obviously true that, if one wants Christianity to survive, one has to actually get off one's arse and do something about it, and not sit around blaming Muslims.
However, I think it's to misread Sixsmith to say that's all it is. He says about the BBC website: "Buried deep on the site’s “Topics” section is a “Religion” page. Recent articles include “Rastafarian faith mentor dies, aged 73” (RIP to him) and “UK’s first Turkish mosque faces threat to its future”. Nothing about Easter — though there is a guide to celebrating Holi, which is nice."
So, you see this is not just about not going to church, because there are certainly far more practising Christians in the UK than Hindus or Rastafarians. It's that the cultural elite hates Christianity, and actively seeks to eliminate it from public life. The principal enemy of Christianity in the UK is not Muslims, but Guardian-readers.
I've said before that we shouldn't be looking at either the Benedict or Boniface Option, but the Hippie Option. We should be sticking it to The Man; the sexual-military-banker industrial complex. We should mock the elite, and make it clear that we are a counterculture.
I don’t know...watching Muslims pray on church property and the massive weekly demonstrations would indicate something other than not being a problem. They are taking over the culture from what I’m reading and watching.
I don't know about Muslims praying on church property. That sounds atrocious.
The " massive weekly demonstrations" are against Israel. I think they're in the right, totally. I know you don't agree. However, even if you think they're antisemitic, they're against Jews not Christians. I don't think Christians have any more business taking sides in a religions conflict between Jews and Muslims than we do with one between, say, Hindus and Buddhists (e.g. in Sri Lanka).
Muslim hostility is mainly to (a) woke liberalism, i.e. LGBT, feminists - they share a lot of the same positions as Christians, actually; and (b) Jews, or at least Zionists.
Hostility to Christinas, in the sense of vandalism, disruption of services, defecation on church floors, etc., is mostly from feminists, LGBT activists, and radical atheists.
Actually if they are British citizens they shouldn’t be demonstrating at all for foreign lands that don’t involve their country. I’m not saying the left isn’t more of a threat but make no mistake the majority of them believe we are apostates. They wouldn’t be bothered if Israel were wiped from the earth. Grooming gangs, beheadings, bombings, acid attacks. No, we are not aligned.
Nonsense. People express opinions about all sorts of foreign issues that have nothing to do with their own country. When I lived in London, I used to pass the Chinese Embassy, with a permanent pro-Tibetan demo, and that’s something that has nothing at all to do with the UK.
Israel vs. Palestine is relevant, as the UK supports one side, and some citizens want to change that, expressing legitimate political opinions. Many, perhaps most, of the demonstrators are non-Muslim.
‘Apostates’? What are you talking about. Maybe you should find out what words mean?
I think it’s up to you to explain why anyone should care about Israel being wiped off the face of the earth. Personally, apart from humanitarian sympathies, I just want to not have to think any more about it than I do about some tribal war somewhere. Neither side is in any sense my people. I despise all the main ideologies there. I could sketch a preferred outcome, but it’s unlikely to happen.
Yes I was searching for a more appropriate word but was unable to locate one. I would certainly care if any country were wiped off the face of the earth no matter who it was, everyone should have a homeland.
There are two kingdoms, the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God. Which one do you want to live in? Which one do you actually live in? We fool ourselves if we think we are in the kingdom of God while largely ignoring his right as King to rule and reign in our lives. We fool ourselves again if we do things outwardly just to show others how good we are. As Jesus said to the Pharisees who made big shows of their prayers or fasting, they had their reward, but not in heaven. If our faith is real, we don't do things to show others we are good, but rather we do things because we know that is our Father's will and we seek to honor Him as the King He truly is.
To me, this all comes down to whether we believe this world is what is really real and important, or whether we believe God is more important and real than any of that. The disciples of Jesus weren't changed as much by His teachings as when He rose from the dead and revealed who He truly is. That God would come down, dwell with us, suffer and die for us, and then raise to life again, makes everything in this world pale by comparison. Let us renew our minds and awaken to what His resurrection truly means.
We have no choice about being in the world: this is where God has put us, and we aren't disembodied spirits but creatures of flesh and blood. But we should not be of the world.
I wasn't talking about where one is located, but rather which kingdom is your ruler. We may be located in the world physically, but our King should be Christ. The thing is, it so very easy to care more about this world and what it says is important, than to care about the kingdom of God which is much harder to see, and thus doesn't seem as important in our daily lives. That's why we have to renew our minds. Yes?
I wasn't disagreeing, just pointing out that we are material beings who live in this world, but should not be wholly of it. I'm leery of the lingering Gnostic infection in Christiamity which holds that only the soul is good while material creation is evil. Doesn't sound like you are saying that. We aren't disembodied souls imprisoned in bodies; we are body, mind and soul together.
The other phrase one hears is "I'm a good person". Setting aside that most everyone passes their own self-administered 'goodness' test, Christ didn't come as merely a teacher of ethics or moral philosopher.
That last line makes me think of Tolstoy, who I don't think ever quite understood what the Gospel is about. His own genius kept getting in the damn way.
I also have an acquaintance whose last name is Walker, and he tries to pull the same sort of stunt. And I have told him, "Look man, I know that you're super into Walkerism, but I don't care, okay?—I believe in Jesus." The guy literally doesn't comprehend the Christian concept.
Met up with a childhood friend in my hometown over Christmas. He announced with apparent disappointment that he didn't think he believed in God anymore. "You have something and see something I don't and I don't know why...". That he hasn't practiced his birth Catholicism for decades and has been reading a lot of Christopher Hitchens in the last year didn't seem to occur him as contributing factors. Guy's not dumb, more accomplished than I in a worldly sense, but, yeah, spiritually confused if not self-blinkered.
I find that by now, a lot of people simply don't know where or how to look; this type of knowledge has become totally alien to them, to the point that it isn't even recognized as knowledge at all. The entire structure of their thinking is just warped, to say nothing of the content. Almost like they've lost an organ of perception. Søren's *Concluding Unscientific Postscript* could help guide them back—but of course, they would have to be receptive to that in the first place.
Even Mother Teresa experienced that sort of great emptiness. She nonetheless persevered in her duty, serving "the least of our brethren", and that sort of thing is the best any of us can do; it is heroic in a very quiet and unassuming way.
Yes, it's about practicing. Studies have shown that spiritual but not religious option is a weak one that doesn't sustain itself. Sociologist Nancy Ammerman has shown that the SBNR label is often used just by people who are trying to explain their disengagement from the faith and church. Those who had regular spiritual practices were also involved in some way in the institution.
There is a line in Fr John Behr's little book "Becoming Human" (which, if you're Orthodox, belongs on your night stand for ready reference - how about picking it up for Lenten reading if you don't already have something else started?) that I have turned into a prayer, which I try to pray daily:
"Oh Lord, deliver me from attachment to my own image of myself."
Scripture is crystal clear on this subject in many places. “No one is good, no, not one”, except Jesus the Christ, fully man, and fully God, who lived and died, without sin. This is what makes Jesus our perfect sacrifice.
I occasionally watch Ray Comfort street evangelism videos on YouTube (Living Waters Ministry). It's common for the people he interviews to say "yes, I believe I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person". He then steps them through some of the 10 Commandments and explains how God defines a good person. This approach frequently opens their eyes (but not always).
Some people criticize Comfort's approach but I find it to be a reasonable and Biblically credible method.
It is far too late to call for a resurgence of mere Cultural Christianity in the United States when this is how your government acknowledges the date of the Easter holiday this year:
Will the Google logo for March 31, 2024 be at least nominally in celebration of Easter, with Easter eggs or bunny rabbits, or will it be transgender pride flags and whatnot in celebration of Trans Visibility Day? Place your bets below!
My guess is Easter eggs painted like trans pride flags.
For sure: honestly, I'm not all that sorry to see Christendom go, because the Church is always at its best as the counterculture. I'm of the opinion that Constantine was one of the worst things that ever happened to the faith (and no, I don't care who calls him a saint).
David Bentley Hart has a great line, in his book about the tsunami: "Easter should make rebels of us all."
I have mixed feelings, actually, on this subject. Personally I'm happy either way. Regarding saint-making it definitely has quality vs. quantity aspects.
The propagation of the Christian faith might have ended abruptly had the Roman empire not adopted Christianity as a state religion, and, perhaps, the sometimes brutish ways of Christian emperors, kings, and princes, were intended to be part of the divine plan in history.
President Biden apparently will celebrate transgenderism tomorrow on Easter Sunday. And lefties wonder why religious people are forced to support Trump.
Seriously? When I looked at it on my Pocket Moloch this morning, it just shows the regular Google logo. I'm out for a walk now. I'll have to pull it up on my laptop when I get home.
All you have to do is look who’s running google now. They don’t care about our values and traditions because they are from a different culture. They were only ever here to make money. This is why I’ve soured on all forms of immigration.
I stopped going to Wal*Trash years ago when they became the first big store to decide to remain open on Easter Sunday. I rightly predicted it would be the beginning of a trend (although there are still some holdouts, thankfully).
So we commercialize Christmas and Easter to death, turn Halloween into Christmas 2, and totally marginalize Thanksgiving (You'd be surprised how many millennials and GenZ-ers dislike that holiday. Hence the rise of "Friendsgiving.")The Bolsheviks couldn't have done a better job of turning things upside-down.
With Thanksgiving, at least, I think part of it is that a lot of people in the younger generations (including mine—I'm a Millennial) don't really have good families to visit, and also haven't generated their own families either. So that's a little sad, but to your point, I'd say it's more about having nowhere to go than about hating the concept of gratitude.
That could be, but I have heard both millennials and Gen-Z kids explicitly say that they don't like the holiday, don't think it matters, it's just a waste of time, etc. I can understand how it might not be enjoyable if there's no family around, but why would that entail bashing the holiday itself?
Well, as a psychological matter, I think it's easy to understand that as a defense mechanism: you might start to dislike a holiday that has to do with family if you don't have one and thus feel left out.
Now that you mention it, there also is the woke aspect having to do with the Native Americans and all. But these explanations aren't mutually exclusive, insofar as wokeness is a psychopathology rooted in great resentment.
I used to go up to Michigan (family there) for T'giving, most years. The Pandemic disrupted that, though in 2022 I came down to FL (also, family here), and that was the start of my deciding I should move down here. But pre-Pandemic, and also in 2021, I did invite friends for "Friendsgiving". I can't see anything wrong with two T'giving dinners or having such a dinner with friends. This year in FL I also went to Church on Thanksgiving Eve for a Liturgy.
It also seems to me that the very name, "Friendsgiving", is meant as a contradistinction to the traditional practice of having a meal with family, since "friends" is not exactly an antithesis of "thanks". It sort of hints at the actual issue.
The modern world errs when it denigrates friendship, or reduces it to something merely incidental. Both Aristotle and Plato considered friendship the core social relationship, surpassing family and even spousal bonds (the latter was likely part of the infamous Greek misogyny). I have good connections with a small number of family (my step sisters and a couple cousins) and I try to keep up with others, but over the years friends have been a mainstay in my life.
At least 20 years ago, the local chain drugstore advertised that all purchases made on Easter Sunday would be tax-free. I was quite astounded at this insult to anyone celebrating the high feast of Christianity, and spent a long time crafting a letter to the manager, which I never finished or sent, because, I suppose, I was using my time for more useful things. I still wonder if the management was motivated purely by business concerns, or was partly stupid in another way, thinking that it was somehow showing honor to the day, to pull Christians from their family dinners into the store to get a bargain investing in earthly goods?
Agree with your sentiment but I've pivoted to avoiding Target as a higher priority.
Our culture has so devalued children that it can be hard to find non fancy versions of basics for kids, especially babies who need safety (so not improvised) but do not care in the least about fancy stuff. Walmart, especially online, is the best fallback place of "where do I buy this?"
I don't think I've been in a Target more than three or four times in my life. Never cared much for them, and I care much less now that they've gone full woke.
Granted, anyone paying attention knows by now that the Regime hates Christianity, hates the ancient values of Christianity, hates our nation's history and traditions...and most of all hates those benighted clingers who hold on to all these things.
But now the Enemies of God aren't content with their temporal victory over goodness, decency, and faith. Instead, they've reached the stage of making the rubble bounce...of flaunting their contempt. They want to leave no doubt in your mind as to your place in their New Order.
“NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility.”
Wow! How few years ago would this have seemed either impossible or maybe satire from the “Babylon Bee.”
On the bright side, though, Biden almost certainly doesn't know what day or month or year or decade it is, so he might not have personally meant it as an affront against Easter.
Although going to church is good, for your unchurched or non-church going readers, especially those interested in enchantment, my recommendation would be simply to say a prayer, addressing God, asking for his help and light. Such a step invites good into one's life just as surely as an ouija board invites evil.
Riposte from Auden via Alan Jacobs: “The Danish Lutheran Church may have been as worldly as Kierkegaard thought it was, but if it had not existed he would never have heard of the Gospels, in which he found the standards by which he condemned it.” https://blog.ayjay.org/tribulation/
Oh, my word!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you . I knew it, deep down I just knew it. So happy to hear this about Tom Holland, whose talks, in my opinion, sound like there is some kind of faith beyond his obvious love of Christianity - or at least a good chance faith is to come.. I've long read Tom Holland and been encouraged by him and, his pointing out of the beautiful effects Christianity still has in this sad world. For me, I thought I was moving beyond Holland's thoughts to a place of faith ( a rebirth of faith for me) after I went to Medjugorje, but it looks like I might be moving parallel. A possible Marian experience. And he is a regular churchgoer. Wow, just wow. Can't wait to see what comes next.
Justin Brierley has been talking to people like Holland and others who have been "Christian-adjacent", along with other atheists and agnostics, for years, in a very respectful and non-defensive way. He's among the best of the "public" Protestants out there :)
Also, the small egg is painted the colors of the transgender flag.
It's kinda funny how subdued it is: just one small egg. Like they almost thought about not doing it, but then they just couldn't help themselves.
To be fair, he probably doesn't know what day or decade it is.
Also, to be sort-of fair, this "Transgender Day of Visibility" has been a thing on March 31 for at least fifteen years, so it's not like the Biden administration proclaimed it or made it up themselves.
Also, to be sort-of-fair, the White House issues many such proclamations in the past 36 hours to recognize such things as National Sexual Assault and Prevention Month, Arab American Heritage Month, Cesar Chavez Day, National Child Abuse Prevention Month, Care Workers Recognition Month, Month of the Military Child, and something called "Second Chance Month."
I think "National Transgender Visibility Month" is largely horsecrap, but I also have to wonder about people in the media or on social media who are getting everyone worked up over this. As we've been discussing here lately, all these people on social media furious about this aren't really credible unless they're actually going to church themselves this Easter.
Completely agree.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Søren Kierkegaard is the greatest philosopher who ever lived, and he gave me the entirety of the epistemology that I needed to become a Christian. I think that everyone in the world, both believers and heathens, should read his magnum opus, *Concluding Unscientific Postscript*. It was one of those life-changing books for me, anyway.
It's somewhat ironic that you linked Søren with a call to go to church, though. If I recall, he stopped going by the end, because he didn't want to encourage the charade that merely going was all it meant to be a Christian. But I guess that circumstances are a little different in America today than they were in Denmark at that time, now that going to church is a voluntarily accepted discipline rather than a passive social norm.
Also, an anecdote: when I mentioned yesterday that I went to church, more than one well-meaning heathen wished me a "happy Good Friday"—which, of course, suggested to me that they had no idea what the day is about. I had to gently point out how that wasn't quite the adjective they were looking for.
Welllllll...I share your thought about attaching "happy" to it. Because that day is indeed a grim one, especially for those who experienced it. However, holiday habitual greeting rituals aside, it is only grim, or at least its grimmest, when you consider that it is the opening act, not the grand finale.
I've let that slip out my mouth a couple of times, before reflecting on it and wincing. But the fact they knew the holiday was there and acknowledged it to someone is a positive.
Friday may look grim, but the show's not over, folks. Sunday is coming. Smile, things are just getting really good.
Oh, for sure: knowing what comes next, it's hard to even feel sad about His death, because I'm like, "Okay, so now He has just arrived at Hell, and oh man, that place sure isn't happy to see Him."
But I try (impossible as it is) to get into the headspace of the apostles, who did not know what was going to come next. They thought it was well and truly over. So even if we know what comes next, I find value in at least attempting to forget that for a moment, so as to better understand the full impact of the Resurrection.
True, true.
From an intro hymn this morning:
“When Isaiah saw his Lord, he cried out, ‘O Son of God, who has dyed your garments red as blood?’ Jesus then replied, ‘I have trampled death itself to save my loved ones, and the blood of conquered death has stained my garments.”
So risen Jesus basically says to Isaiah, “Oh, this?—don’t worry, it isn’t My blood. . . .”
Mary as lens:
https://thebostonpilot.com/Opinion/article.asp?ID=196944
I'd say that Mary suffered more from the Crucifixion than Jesus: that's just how mothers are, and the Virgin most of all.
I once read that Jesus' Passion was to be on the Cross, and Mary's Passion was NOT to be on the Cross in place of her Son.
And the final act of Jesus before he died was to protect His mother from poverty and destitution. He said, “behold woman, here is your son (the Apostle John)”, and he said to the Apostle he loved “(John), behold, here is your mother.” And that was that. It is hard to imagine the grief and sorrow she had that very moment.
A few years ago, someone (was it Rod?) posted a video from an Orthodox service of mourning for Good Friday. It was haunting, and helped to recapture some of what the disciples must have felt.
It’s Friday, but Sunday’s comin’! https://youtu.be/pHHinnzigtQ?si=ZVugIiCmE73tDRgo
My friends and I greet each other “Blessed Good Friday”
That's good, that works.
In re: "Happy Good Friday". I've looked into origin of day's name. Apparently it came to English by way of Martin Luther who preferred substituting "Guter Freitag" (Good Friday) for the traditional German name (still used today) of Karfreitag (Sorrowful Friday) as it was good for us that God died for our sins.
I just found it particularly jarring because at my Maronite church, the service is very much a funeral. Most of us are dressed in black, and we process around the church with a large icon of His body, and it ends with us placing flowers on His grave. (There's also the Lebanese dirge going on.) So sure, I guess it's "good" in the high theological sense, but also, no one says "happy funeral".
The Orthodox service is also rather funerary, including a procession with the epitaphios, an altar cloth that depicts the burial of Christ. Though there's a definite hint that this burial is not the end of the story. The service ends with the reading of Ezekiel 37, the vision of the dry bones.
In Orthodoxy the day is known as Great, or Great and Holy, Friday. In my first Holy Week of Orthodoxy a young convert and a sort of early version of an Orthobro corrected me when I said "Good Friday".
Especially touching are the chanting of Engomia, the lovely three melodies with words in the voice of the Theotokos and her grief at viewing her beloved son. “Wither is thy beauty?”
That's the service I was thinking of above. Probably the Orthodox and the Maronite are very similar.
I came across this haunting audio, with English subtitles. Simeon did say, to Mary, "a sword will pierce through your own soul also". (Luke 2:35). Westerners tend to gloss over this aspect, since we know what happens next. Martin Luther had the highest regard for her, and (unknown to most today, regrettably), the Smalcald articles, among the Lutheran Confessions, even maintain that Mary remained ever-virgin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsQHutE9CNA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutheran_Mariology
Good Friday is “good” because that is when Jesus declared “It is finished” as his dying command. Satan failed. What was finished? Death, sickness, hate, war, violence, Satan’s power over us, etc…. We need to wait a little while until our bodies give up. But Jesus’ death on the cross is the assurance of our everlasting life with Him in eternity. Satan can torture our bodies and even kill us, but Satan can not touch the soul of a true Christian brother or sister. To be absent from our bodies is to present with the Lord. As I am now an older man, I see this more and more.
A well-intentioned loved one yesterday said "have a good time" as I was en route to church. I said, "well, it's not really a 'good' time."
He said: "But it's Good Friday, right? What happens tonight?"
Me: "The Crucifixion."
Him: "That doesn't sound 'good.'"
Me: "It is, in the long run."
He seemed quietly moved by the answer.
Jonah, when I was young, most people at least knew the outline of Christian belief, even if they didn't hold it. Now, the ignorance is shocking.
I mostly agree with you, but there's always been some major areas of ignorace and wrong popular belief. For example the popular notion that people become angels when they go to Heaven goes back a long ways.
I'm laughing, because, of course, you're right.
In recent decades, as averred by at least one theologian who, I think, was correct, the variant - a moral, therapeutic, deistic American variant - is that at death, everyone goes to Heaven.
For Christians, the idea of Hell shrivels us emotionally, but I think no one can have told another person the Gospel unless he has told his interlocutor about Hell. The idea of extinction seems just barely defensible from Scripture - and God knows I hope it is what Hell is - but Universalism is not.
Happy Resurrection Day, Jon, though I know your Easter is two or three weeks away.
Rod, that was a lovely message.
Hey, that was fun the other day! Good to finally meet someone from this ether in person.
Anyone who appreciates the waterfall foaming of a Guinness can't be all bad!
Ah, it really is a beautiful sight, isn't it? And indeed—that heuristic hasn't let me down yet.
It’s a thing of beauty….and tastes pretty damn good too.
A quick aside: I am pleased to report that the inaugural meeting of the Austin chapter of the Rod Dreher Fan Club was held Thursday afternoon in a local watering hole. Sethu and I met up and vainly tried to solve the world's problems over a few pints (well, I had to stick to iced tea only because I was driving). I must report that Sethu is as an interesting and thoughtful chap in person as he is on this Substack. It does the heart good to interact with one another in the non-virtual world.
Fantastic! Next time I'm in town, let's get together.
It would definitely be great to meet you.
Houstonian here. I'd come to Austin to meet up with y'all!
It is so important to make these real-life connections as well! Hopefully I'll be doing it before too long with it least a person or two from this board, but it sure would have been neat to meet them two of you as well!
We will make that happen! My dear husband has offered repeatedly to drive me to you.
And, I would love to meet any other of Rod’s fans!
God willing, absolutely! :)
Mind you, people who are at my house during gardening season tend to get put to work. You might end up with dirt under your fingernails.
I don't mind at all! :)
Of course you don’t. ☺️
Same here! If I ever get my road trip to hunt for obscure liquor off the ground, I'm definently heading your way!!
Sounds good! 😁
Are you familiar with Malort? It's a Chicago specialty, and it has a reputation for tasting like death.
(Nah, it's not actually that bad—just very bitter and made from wormwood. Think of it like a spectrum stretching from Jager to Fernet to beyond, and that's where Malort is at.)
Jepsen's Malort is unfairly maligned - I love the stuff! I think its bad reputation stems in part from its unfortunate yellowish color.
It's also just part of the shtick at this point.
https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/z0sxip/what_are_some_slogans_for_malort/?rdt=63880
Where are you at now, again? Wisconsin?
Yes
Sounds like a great evening. Maybe we can have more chapters across the world and meet for an international convention?
And thus it began. . . .
My son wants to take a trip down to Austin for the comedy scene surrounding Joe Rogan's Mothership. I'd go with him for a meet up with you guys, though I'm a much better listener than talker.
Well, it would be great to meet you!
I am totally game!
The merch tables at the convention would be an odd assortment of things for sure!!
Great article. I'm going to church tomorrow and have semi-returned to religious events as my dad joined our local choir about 5 years ago and I've been drawn more and more back because of the people who attend (who tend to be more social, hard-working, kind and ready to help others than the average). I can't say I've felt drawn for personal religious reasons, but when my son was born I could only look around at the spiritual and material emptiness everywhere else and couldn't deny that religion had more to offer. I know that sounds too transactional, but the effect has been that I try to offer myself to help with different church projects in return.
As there is Jewish heritage from my mum's side, we are also joining a group for Passover this year as well for the same reasons; whilst there is good and bad amongst all of us I find that in everyday religious groups you find the best people who make you want to be better - something I want to pass onto my children.
Good comment. If you're pushing back on the culture's insistence that you not be involved with organized religion and religious traditions, then you're pointed in the right direction.
"Insincere agnoscticism," yep, had that phase, too. Around the early college years, right? Lord was faithful to me, even then.
It's obviously true that, if one wants Christianity to survive, one has to actually get off one's arse and do something about it, and not sit around blaming Muslims.
However, I think it's to misread Sixsmith to say that's all it is. He says about the BBC website: "Buried deep on the site’s “Topics” section is a “Religion” page. Recent articles include “Rastafarian faith mentor dies, aged 73” (RIP to him) and “UK’s first Turkish mosque faces threat to its future”. Nothing about Easter — though there is a guide to celebrating Holi, which is nice."
So, you see this is not just about not going to church, because there are certainly far more practising Christians in the UK than Hindus or Rastafarians. It's that the cultural elite hates Christianity, and actively seeks to eliminate it from public life. The principal enemy of Christianity in the UK is not Muslims, but Guardian-readers.
I've said before that we shouldn't be looking at either the Benedict or Boniface Option, but the Hippie Option. We should be sticking it to The Man; the sexual-military-banker industrial complex. We should mock the elite, and make it clear that we are a counterculture.
You are really talking about the Day Option, as in Dorothy. She did mock in genteel ways.
"Guardian-readers." You nailed it.
Combine the BenOp with the HipOp ( ! ) -- at home and church be George MacDonald. Out in the world be Norm Macdonald.
I don’t know...watching Muslims pray on church property and the massive weekly demonstrations would indicate something other than not being a problem. They are taking over the culture from what I’m reading and watching.
I don't know about Muslims praying on church property. That sounds atrocious.
The " massive weekly demonstrations" are against Israel. I think they're in the right, totally. I know you don't agree. However, even if you think they're antisemitic, they're against Jews not Christians. I don't think Christians have any more business taking sides in a religions conflict between Jews and Muslims than we do with one between, say, Hindus and Buddhists (e.g. in Sri Lanka).
Muslim hostility is mainly to (a) woke liberalism, i.e. LGBT, feminists - they share a lot of the same positions as Christians, actually; and (b) Jews, or at least Zionists.
Hostility to Christinas, in the sense of vandalism, disruption of services, defecation on church floors, etc., is mostly from feminists, LGBT activists, and radical atheists.
Actually if they are British citizens they shouldn’t be demonstrating at all for foreign lands that don’t involve their country. I’m not saying the left isn’t more of a threat but make no mistake the majority of them believe we are apostates. They wouldn’t be bothered if Israel were wiped from the earth. Grooming gangs, beheadings, bombings, acid attacks. No, we are not aligned.
Nonsense. People express opinions about all sorts of foreign issues that have nothing to do with their own country. When I lived in London, I used to pass the Chinese Embassy, with a permanent pro-Tibetan demo, and that’s something that has nothing at all to do with the UK.
Israel vs. Palestine is relevant, as the UK supports one side, and some citizens want to change that, expressing legitimate political opinions. Many, perhaps most, of the demonstrators are non-Muslim.
The end of your reply gets really weird.
‘Apostates’? What are you talking about. Maybe you should find out what words mean?
I think it’s up to you to explain why anyone should care about Israel being wiped off the face of the earth. Personally, apart from humanitarian sympathies, I just want to not have to think any more about it than I do about some tribal war somewhere. Neither side is in any sense my people. I despise all the main ideologies there. I could sketch a preferred outcome, but it’s unlikely to happen.
Yes I was searching for a more appropriate word but was unable to locate one. I would certainly care if any country were wiped off the face of the earth no matter who it was, everyone should have a homeland.
There are two kingdoms, the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God. Which one do you want to live in? Which one do you actually live in? We fool ourselves if we think we are in the kingdom of God while largely ignoring his right as King to rule and reign in our lives. We fool ourselves again if we do things outwardly just to show others how good we are. As Jesus said to the Pharisees who made big shows of their prayers or fasting, they had their reward, but not in heaven. If our faith is real, we don't do things to show others we are good, but rather we do things because we know that is our Father's will and we seek to honor Him as the King He truly is.
To me, this all comes down to whether we believe this world is what is really real and important, or whether we believe God is more important and real than any of that. The disciples of Jesus weren't changed as much by His teachings as when He rose from the dead and revealed who He truly is. That God would come down, dwell with us, suffer and die for us, and then raise to life again, makes everything in this world pale by comparison. Let us renew our minds and awaken to what His resurrection truly means.
We have no choice about being in the world: this is where God has put us, and we aren't disembodied spirits but creatures of flesh and blood. But we should not be of the world.
I wasn't talking about where one is located, but rather which kingdom is your ruler. We may be located in the world physically, but our King should be Christ. The thing is, it so very easy to care more about this world and what it says is important, than to care about the kingdom of God which is much harder to see, and thus doesn't seem as important in our daily lives. That's why we have to renew our minds. Yes?
I wasn't disagreeing, just pointing out that we are material beings who live in this world, but should not be wholly of it. I'm leery of the lingering Gnostic infection in Christiamity which holds that only the soul is good while material creation is evil. Doesn't sound like you are saying that. We aren't disembodied souls imprisoned in bodies; we are body, mind and soul together.
“I meet the Lord in my own way"
The other phrase one hears is "I'm a good person". Setting aside that most everyone passes their own self-administered 'goodness' test, Christ didn't come as merely a teacher of ethics or moral philosopher.
That last line makes me think of Tolstoy, who I don't think ever quite understood what the Gospel is about. His own genius kept getting in the damn way.
I also have an acquaintance whose last name is Walker, and he tries to pull the same sort of stunt. And I have told him, "Look man, I know that you're super into Walkerism, but I don't care, okay?—I believe in Jesus." The guy literally doesn't comprehend the Christian concept.
Met up with a childhood friend in my hometown over Christmas. He announced with apparent disappointment that he didn't think he believed in God anymore. "You have something and see something I don't and I don't know why...". That he hasn't practiced his birth Catholicism for decades and has been reading a lot of Christopher Hitchens in the last year didn't seem to occur him as contributing factors. Guy's not dumb, more accomplished than I in a worldly sense, but, yeah, spiritually confused if not self-blinkered.
I find that by now, a lot of people simply don't know where or how to look; this type of knowledge has become totally alien to them, to the point that it isn't even recognized as knowledge at all. The entire structure of their thinking is just warped, to say nothing of the content. Almost like they've lost an organ of perception. Søren's *Concluding Unscientific Postscript* could help guide them back—but of course, they would have to be receptive to that in the first place.
Even Mother Teresa experienced that sort of great emptiness. She nonetheless persevered in her duty, serving "the least of our brethren", and that sort of thing is the best any of us can do; it is heroic in a very quiet and unassuming way.
One would need to first perceive the duty and accept its legitimacy, though, before even attempting to fulfill it.
Yes, it's about practicing. Studies have shown that spiritual but not religious option is a weak one that doesn't sustain itself. Sociologist Nancy Ammerman has shown that the SBNR label is often used just by people who are trying to explain their disengagement from the faith and church. Those who had regular spiritual practices were also involved in some way in the institution.
Saw a great cartoon once. Man says "I'm spiritual but not religious." Satan says "Hey, me too! BFF?"
There is a line in Fr John Behr's little book "Becoming Human" (which, if you're Orthodox, belongs on your night stand for ready reference - how about picking it up for Lenten reading if you don't already have something else started?) that I have turned into a prayer, which I try to pray daily:
"Oh Lord, deliver me from attachment to my own image of myself."
Dana
Looks great—I'll check it out.
“I’m more spiritual than religious.”
I always like to follow up with, "So, which spirits do you mean? Could you please be more specific?"
That is a great response.
The religious have the concept of sin. I'm guessing the spiritual do not.
Scripture is crystal clear on this subject in many places. “No one is good, no, not one”, except Jesus the Christ, fully man, and fully God, who lived and died, without sin. This is what makes Jesus our perfect sacrifice.
I occasionally watch Ray Comfort street evangelism videos on YouTube (Living Waters Ministry). It's common for the people he interviews to say "yes, I believe I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person". He then steps them through some of the 10 Commandments and explains how God defines a good person. This approach frequently opens their eyes (but not always).
Some people criticize Comfort's approach but I find it to be a reasonable and Biblically credible method.
It is far too late to call for a resurgence of mere Cultural Christianity in the United States when this is how your government acknowledges the date of the Easter holiday this year:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/03/29/a-proclamation-on-transgender-day-of-visibility-2024/
Christ is Risen! Now go forth to give your daughters' medically unnecessary masectomies and castrate your sons.
Will the Google logo for March 31, 2024 be at least nominally in celebration of Easter, with Easter eggs or bunny rabbits, or will it be transgender pride flags and whatnot in celebration of Trans Visibility Day? Place your bets below!
My guess is Easter eggs painted like trans pride flags.
Makes sense, because merely ignoring Easter wouldn't be "subversive" enough for them—not when they could blaspheme instead.
It is getting to the point that celebrating Easter is the real subversion. Part of me is actually glad for that. The Sermon on the Mount comes alive.
For sure: honestly, I'm not all that sorry to see Christendom go, because the Church is always at its best as the counterculture. I'm of the opinion that Constantine was one of the worst things that ever happened to the faith (and no, I don't care who calls him a saint).
David Bentley Hart has a great line, in his book about the tsunami: "Easter should make rebels of us all."
I have mixed feelings, actually, on this subject. Personally I'm happy either way. Regarding saint-making it definitely has quality vs. quantity aspects.
The propagation of the Christian faith might have ended abruptly had the Roman empire not adopted Christianity as a state religion, and, perhaps, the sometimes brutish ways of Christian emperors, kings, and princes, were intended to be part of the divine plan in history.
I have a deep fondness for DBH that makes me feel kind of naughty in Ortho-circles.
Why worry? Google is poison. Don’t use it. I use Duck Duck Go
President Biden apparently will celebrate transgenderism tomorrow on Easter Sunday. And lefties wonder why religious people are forced to support Trump.
Hey, man—look at Google. You were right!
Seriously? When I looked at it on my Pocket Moloch this morning, it just shows the regular Google logo. I'm out for a walk now. I'll have to pull it up on my laptop when I get home.
It's subdued, but there's one small painted egg below the search bar and buttons.
The White House is inviting children to submit their Easter egg art, while disallowing any religious images or themes.
Wow.
All you have to do is look who’s running google now. They don’t care about our values and traditions because they are from a different culture. They were only ever here to make money. This is why I’ve soured on all forms of immigration.
I stopped going to Wal*Trash years ago when they became the first big store to decide to remain open on Easter Sunday. I rightly predicted it would be the beginning of a trend (although there are still some holdouts, thankfully).
So we commercialize Christmas and Easter to death, turn Halloween into Christmas 2, and totally marginalize Thanksgiving (You'd be surprised how many millennials and GenZ-ers dislike that holiday. Hence the rise of "Friendsgiving.")The Bolsheviks couldn't have done a better job of turning things upside-down.
With Thanksgiving, at least, I think part of it is that a lot of people in the younger generations (including mine—I'm a Millennial) don't really have good families to visit, and also haven't generated their own families either. So that's a little sad, but to your point, I'd say it's more about having nowhere to go than about hating the concept of gratitude.
You are welcome at our table
Aw, thanks, Laura.
That could be, but I have heard both millennials and Gen-Z kids explicitly say that they don't like the holiday, don't think it matters, it's just a waste of time, etc. I can understand how it might not be enjoyable if there's no family around, but why would that entail bashing the holiday itself?
Well, as a psychological matter, I think it's easy to understand that as a defense mechanism: you might start to dislike a holiday that has to do with family if you don't have one and thus feel left out.
Now that you mention it, there also is the woke aspect having to do with the Native Americans and all. But these explanations aren't mutually exclusive, insofar as wokeness is a psychopathology rooted in great resentment.
Sure, I understand both of those aspects. But they just seem so infantile.
I used to go up to Michigan (family there) for T'giving, most years. The Pandemic disrupted that, though in 2022 I came down to FL (also, family here), and that was the start of my deciding I should move down here. But pre-Pandemic, and also in 2021, I did invite friends for "Friendsgiving". I can't see anything wrong with two T'giving dinners or having such a dinner with friends. This year in FL I also went to Church on Thanksgiving Eve for a Liturgy.
It also seems to me that the very name, "Friendsgiving", is meant as a contradistinction to the traditional practice of having a meal with family, since "friends" is not exactly an antithesis of "thanks". It sort of hints at the actual issue.
The modern world errs when it denigrates friendship, or reduces it to something merely incidental. Both Aristotle and Plato considered friendship the core social relationship, surpassing family and even spousal bonds (the latter was likely part of the infamous Greek misogyny). I have good connections with a small number of family (my step sisters and a couple cousins) and I try to keep up with others, but over the years friends have been a mainstay in my life.
At least 20 years ago, the local chain drugstore advertised that all purchases made on Easter Sunday would be tax-free. I was quite astounded at this insult to anyone celebrating the high feast of Christianity, and spent a long time crafting a letter to the manager, which I never finished or sent, because, I suppose, I was using my time for more useful things. I still wonder if the management was motivated purely by business concerns, or was partly stupid in another way, thinking that it was somehow showing honor to the day, to pull Christians from their family dinners into the store to get a bargain investing in earthly goods?
Agree with your sentiment but I've pivoted to avoiding Target as a higher priority.
Our culture has so devalued children that it can be hard to find non fancy versions of basics for kids, especially babies who need safety (so not improvised) but do not care in the least about fancy stuff. Walmart, especially online, is the best fallback place of "where do I buy this?"
I don't think I've been in a Target more than three or four times in my life. Never cared much for them, and I care much less now that they've gone full woke.
Old time Yankee Protestants used to celebrate Thanksgiving while ignoring Christmas as "Catholic", i.e., semi-pagan.
Dear God. The Regime says Happy Easter.
Granted, anyone paying attention knows by now that the Regime hates Christianity, hates the ancient values of Christianity, hates our nation's history and traditions...and most of all hates those benighted clingers who hold on to all these things.
But now the Enemies of God aren't content with their temporal victory over goodness, decency, and faith. Instead, they've reached the stage of making the rubble bounce...of flaunting their contempt. They want to leave no doubt in your mind as to your place in their New Order.
Astounding
Yep. Reading the Signs of the Times.
“NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility.”
Wow! How few years ago would this have seemed either impossible or maybe satire from the “Babylon Bee.”
On the bright side, though, Biden almost certainly doesn't know what day or month or year or decade it is, so he might not have personally meant it as an affront against Easter.
Biden, ever the "devout Catholic."
Nailed it yet again !
You have a gift.
Hear. Hear. I will add go to a faithful traditional church. Liberal fake churches are part of the problem.
Although going to church is good, for your unchurched or non-church going readers, especially those interested in enchantment, my recommendation would be simply to say a prayer, addressing God, asking for his help and light. Such a step invites good into one's life just as surely as an ouija board invites evil.
I hope Rod will post about Justin Brierley's new book, The Surprising Rebirth of Belief In God - it sounds inspiring. Apparently Tom Holland had an answered prayer and a possible Marian experience! https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-christian-revival-is-under-way-in-britain/
Riposte from Auden via Alan Jacobs: “The Danish Lutheran Church may have been as worldly as Kierkegaard thought it was, but if it had not existed he would never have heard of the Gospels, in which he found the standards by which he condemned it.” https://blog.ayjay.org/tribulation/
Oh, my word!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you . I knew it, deep down I just knew it. So happy to hear this about Tom Holland, whose talks, in my opinion, sound like there is some kind of faith beyond his obvious love of Christianity - or at least a good chance faith is to come.. I've long read Tom Holland and been encouraged by him and, his pointing out of the beautiful effects Christianity still has in this sad world. For me, I thought I was moving beyond Holland's thoughts to a place of faith ( a rebirth of faith for me) after I went to Medjugorje, but it looks like I might be moving parallel. A possible Marian experience. And he is a regular churchgoer. Wow, just wow. Can't wait to see what comes next.
Justin Brierley has been talking to people like Holland and others who have been "Christian-adjacent", along with other atheists and agnostics, for years, in a very respectful and non-defensive way. He's among the best of the "public" Protestants out there :)
Dana
It’s especially important for Dad’s to attend Sunday worship and practice the faith. Makes a tremendous impact on the kids.