Friday, March 12, 2010

The Life of Olaudah Equiano

The 2006 film Amazing Grace contains the following dialogue:

Barbara Spooner Wilberforce: I met the African.

William Wilberforce: Equiano.

Barbara Spooner Wilberforce: He came to town with a hundred copies of his book. They sold in an hour.

The book being spoken of is The Life of Olaudah Equiano, a slave narrative.

This may seem like an odd choice for my Lenten reading. Bradshaw and Hoffman's Passover and Easter: Origin and History to Modern Times postulated that after the destruction of the Jewish temple in 70 AD, two Passover narratives emerged, one Christian and the other Jewish. The Christian story evolved into what is today Easter. The understanding that Christ is our Passover seems to have been lost in the Western church. In my past, the Paschal mystery was not at the heart of the Christian story. Christmas, Santa Claus and consumerism replaced Christ's passion. As an adult, I have sought to change my focus. My family celebrates Passover, the preparatory period before Passover, and the count down toward Pentecost.

Each year as I prepare for Pentecost, I make reading selections to teach me spiritual truths. One year I focused on leavened and unleavened bread. Another year I read the church fathers. This year, I am immersing myself into understanding the concept of slavery. Because, the truth is, I don't know that I have ever come to a point where I understand myself as a slave to sin or a slave to God. I rarely hold a mirror up and gaze at the ugliness of my heart. I don't understand what it means to be a slave to God. I only understand slavery in a negative sense. What does it look like to have a benevolent master? And what does it mean to be a faithful servant?

Equiano was born in the Republic of Benin in West Africa. He was kidnapped and forced into domestic slavery as a young boy. After a time, he was brought to the coast where he encountered white men for the first time. He was sold to slave traders and later bought his freedom. His story humanized the African slaves and assisted the abolitionists cause.

One of the first things that caught my eye when I read this book was Equiano's description of the religion on his youth, Vodun. My children are Haitians living in diaspora. They were adopted and brought to the United States. Some conservative Christians openly voiced their belief that Haiti's recent earthquake was a punishment from God; Haitians are cursed because supposedly their ancestors made a pact with the devil. In my rebuttal, I pointed out the similarities between the West African monotheistic religions and ancient Judaism.
And, here I cannot forbear suggesting what has long struck me very forcibly, namely, the strong analogy, which, even by this sketch, imperfect as it is, appears to prevail in the manner and customs of my countrymen and those of the Jews, before they reached the Land of Promise, and particularly the Patriarchs, while they were yet in that pastoral state which is described in Genesis -- an analogy which alone would induce me to think that the one people had sprung from the other.

And, I was struck by Equiano's understanding of Romans 8:28. Oh for eyes that see.
Now every leading providential circumstance that happened to me from the day I was taken from my parents to that hour, was then, in my view, as if it had but just then occurred. I was sensible of the invisible hand of God, which guided and protected me, when in truth I knew it not: still the Lord pursued me, although I slighted and disregarded it; this mercy melted me down. When I considered my poor wretched state, I wept, seeing what a great debtor I was to sovereign free grace.

Oh, and the actor who played Equiano in Amazing Grace is an amazing vocalist!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Passover and Easter: Origin and History to Modern Times

As an adult I have tried to reclaim Pesach/Pascha/Easter as the very heart of my religious year. I attend a non-liturgical church. When Eastern, Western and Messianic Christians were following Christ to his Passion, our church began a a capital campaign, a kick-off to a new building project. I am a novice when it comes to church liturgy, church calendars and sacred times. Passover and Easter: Origin and History to Modern Times by Paul Bradshaw and Lawrence A. Hoffman is an very good resource for those interested in looking back to ancient traditions of the church to influence how they live out their faith.

Until I was in Junior High School, I grew up in a home that was marginally Christian. My mom identified herself as Lutheran Home. My father was Episcopalian. I don't remember going to church except on religious holidays. I understood that Easter was related to the Christ story. Still, Easter mostly meant bunnies, new dresses, visits to relative's homes, candy and colored eggs.

While in the Catholic tradition the rites belonging to this season had undergone major mutations, in the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century they were almost entirely swept away, as part of the Reformers' general rejection on the use of all ceremonies in worship that were at best not understood by ordinary people and at worst interpreted in a highly superstitious manner. All that were usually left were the names for the more significant days together with the traditional biblical readings belonging to them. Special liturgies as such tended to disappear entirely: thus, ash was not used on Ash Wednesday, nor palms on Palm Sunday, and the Easter vigil vanished completely from sight, leaving Easter Day much like any other Sunday of the year. (page 5)
I am continuing to learn how to ensure that the paschal mystery, which this book defines as, "the incarnation, passion, resurrection and glorification of Christ, and the sending of his Spirit" remain the center of our family's eternal hope.

I was a little disappointed in that I felt Christian was used to define primarily Western Christianity. There was very little of the book related to the liturgy and traditions of the Eastern church. And, I do not believe the last supper was a Passover Seder and I do not believe there is a discrepancy between the synoptic gospels and John. In my opinion traditional calendarization of the Great and Holy Week misinterprets Jewish traditions.
  • I believe Christ's triumphal entry occurred on Sunday, Nisan 10; the same day the Passover lambs were chosen (Exodus 12:3).
  • The Jewish day starts at sunset. On Wednesday at sunset, the beginning of Nisan 14, I believe that Christ shared a festive meal with his disciples. Today, this day is traditionally kept as a Fast of the Firstborn. However, even today the fast can be broken to celebrate the completion of study.
  • Thursday, Nisan 14, when the passover lambs were being slaughtered, Christ was crucified. Friday, Nisan 15, is the day that the Passover Seder is traditionally eaten. In Rabbinic Judaism, the Omer Count is started on Nisan 16. But, Leviticus 23:15-16 lays out the instructions for counting the omer, "from the morrow of the sabbath." Saturday, Nisan 16, would have been the regular weekly Sabbath. The morrow after the sabbath is Sunday, Nisan 17. This is the day I contend is First Fruits -- the day of the wave offering of barley and the day we start counting the Omer. 
  • Christ rose on Sunday (Mark 16:9), Nisan 17. Did you know that Nisan 17 is the day the ark rested? It is also the day the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and entered the promise land. Salvation is finished.
While the author's assumptions and narrative did nothing to disprove what I believe to be true about Christ's last week, neither did they discuss the possibility of a crucifixion occurring on a day besides Friday.

This Blog Has Not Been Abandoned

I will be blogging here soon. I think anyone who reads here regularly knows that situations in my home are stealing my joy. I have not even been able to find escape in books. But, I have developed the habit of reading books during the time leading up to Pesach/Pascha/Easter that help me understand the Passion of Christ. This year, I am again following Christ to his crucifixion, resurrection and glorification; I am healing.

I have started my next entry. But, my children told me that I had to "quit blogging and feed [my] kids or lest we'll die!" So, I will finish later.