This Do in Remembrance of Me

Collegiate Church of St. Boniface, Freckenhorst, Germany

For every Sunday I can remember before going off to university, I sat on the front row of my preacher dad’s church tracing with my mind’s eye the Old English letters on the Holy Communion table in front of the pulpit:

 

 

I’m guessing everyone here knows not only WHO said that but WHEN and WHERE, no matter what religious background.  Eucharist words.

But when you trace things like that, repeatedly, over and over again, they become stuck somewhere in your subconscious, taking on a mind of their own.  That’s probably why I took a calligraphy class in a past life and inscribed names on Dale Carnegie certificates.  Before that, in another life of wild dreams and great expectations, I labored over the Book of Kells as a female scribe!

Did you know that, over recorded history, Easter Sunday has occurred as early as March 22^nd and as late as April 25^th.  That’s a spread!

It goes like this:  Jesus’ death and resurrection occurred at the time of the Jewish Passover, which was celebrated on the first full moon following the vernal equinox.  By 325CE the Christians (à la the Council of Nicaea) decided Easter would fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

Got it?

And what is the vernal equinox, you ask???  And when???  SPRING!  And it starts tomorrow.

So, today is March 19, and I’m definitely in the ballpark…even though Easter isn’t until April 20^th this year.  It’s confusing, isn’t it!

All of that to explain why NOW, today, I’m thinking about Easter and how it has taken on a mind of its own.

It so happens that my dad, Carl Clarence, died on the Wednesday before Easter in 1995.  A year later, my brother, Bennett Williams, died a month before Easter.  A year later, my mom, Barbara Nelson, died 30 minutes before Easter.  (Three of my bright morning stars!)

Not that I come to this time of the year wondering if another of my 6 remaining siblings or our children or grandbabies will die, mind you, but rather that it’s a time of remembrance for me now…of those already passed...more than at any other time of the year. 

In fact, what I mean to say about this new mind of its own, is that when we remember those who have died, we start naming our children after them.  Have you noticed? 

Olive Nelson Bennett Sidney Rueben Reuel Barbara Carl Clarence Hodges Susan Elizabeth Virginia Louise Nancy Rebecca Williams James Thomas John Stephen Ruth Ann.

Every one of those names has either been passed on from the generations above and/or to the generations below.  I say generations, plural, because, one name, Ann, was just recently passed to the 3^rd generation below mine in our Hart Tribe.  Another name, Olive, set to be born any day now, comes from 4 generations above.  That’s a spread!

Death is about remembering.  Dying to not forget because nothing lives forever.  Right now we’re dying for spring.  We know it will come, just like every year before.  We don’t doubt it.  We expect it.  We add a spring to our step in anticipation.

It’s the cycle we relive over and over again:  death--resurrection.  The one thing we know for sure is it IS a cycle.  It’s not stuck!  And the good news about that is…we all remember! 

THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME