Easter as a Baptist

[KimberlyCat]

I used to attend a Baptist Church many years ago. It seems that there was an extra service on Easter Sunday mornings to accommodate the extra people. The sermon was about the Resurrection. I don’t recall any communion on Easter. I think we only had communion once a quarter and when we did it was grape juice and crackers similar to oyster crackers. They were served on a tray with tiny little glasses. The tray was passed around by the ushers like the offering basket/plate is. You would just help yourself. The church was filled with Easter Lillys. Most of the ladies wore pastel/spring colors with white corsages and white shoes. In the south you can wear white starting on Easter Sunday. After church there would be a big Easter Egg Hunt on the church grounds for the children.

One year I went to a “Sonrise” service on Easter Morning at sunrise. It was a non-denominational church near a beach. So we all showed up on the beach at sunrise wearing white. We sang songs and prayed. It was very informal.

I remember growing up being so impressed by my Catholic school mates. It was a tiny town so there was no Catholic school and only one Catholic church. I was fascinated at how they would give things up for Lent and how they attended Mass every Sunday. Their homes had statues of Mary, etc. They were very disciplined and very happy kids. When I was a little girl I remember telling my grandmother that I wanted to be Catholic and she said they worship Satan. She said the smoke (incense) is the devils breath. My parents thought The Church was a cult. Needless to say I was never allowed to go anywhere near a Catholic church.

I’m starting RCIA in the fall and have never been happier. You all may have no idea how lucky and blessed you were/are to be raised Catholic. It’s all truly a miracle.

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[pianistclare]

In the way our Liturgical calendar is set up, Church is a reflection of the life of Christ. We experience weekly homilies and readings based on a calendar of events leading to our salvation.
Some churches have their Biblical readings based on whatever the Minister wants to preach on, in random fashion. Salvation for them took place once, in time, and is over and done with, We Catholics are constantly recalling, re-reading, and reliving the life of Christ.

 

[Celtic_Maiden]

Many Non-Catholic Christians believe that we are “recrucifying” Christ. It is an objection against our Mass and our Crucifix also.

That is like saying we should not celebrate our Birthday every year as its already been celebrated for many years in the past, or Anniversary i.e going out for Dinner etc.

In England there is a saying " there is nowt as queer as folk" and this is one of them.

 

[LegoGE1947]

I used to attend a Baptist Church many years ago. It seems that there was an extra service on Easter Sunday mornings to accommodate the extra people. The sermon was about the Resurrection. I don’t recall any communion on Easter. I think we only had communion once a quarter and when we did it was grape juice and crackers similar to oyster crackers. They were served on a tray with tiny little glasses. The tray was passed around by the ushers like the offering basket/plate is. You would just help yourself. The church was filled with Easter Lillys. Most of the ladies wore pastel/spring colors with white corsages and white shoes. In the south you can wear white starting on Easter Sunday. After church there would be a big Easter Egg Hunt on the church grounds for the children.

One year I went to a “Sonrise” service on Easter Morning at sunrise. It was a non-denominational church near a beach. So we all showed up on the beach at sunrise wearing white. We sang songs and prayed. It was very informal.

I remember growing up being so impressed by my Catholic school mates. It was a tiny town so there was no Catholic school and only one Catholic church. I was fascinated at how they would give things up for Lent and how they attended Mass every Sunday. Their homes had statues of Mary, etc. They were very disciplined and very happy kids. When I was a little girl I remember telling my grandmother that I wanted to be Catholic and she said they worship Satan. She said the smoke (incense) is the devils breath. My parents thought The Church was a cult. Needless to say I was never allowed to go anywhere near a Catholic church.

I’m starting RCIA in the fall and have never been happier. You all may have no idea how lucky and blessed you were/are to be raised Catholic. It’s all truly a miracle.

View attachment 19720

There are some of us who were not raised Catholic. I, for example, was not raised in ANY church. My folks believed that going to church was only to show off your nice clothes and fancy things, which we had none of. And those who acted soooo nice on Sunday acted different the other 6 days of the week. I, as result, never really went to church til I became an adult and was on my own. The Catholic Faith wasn’t even in my thoughts until 12 years ago when I was 55 years old. (Welcome to the Catholic Church, by the way!)

 

[Dulcinea2721]

Okay, honestly, people have gone overboard with Mardi Gras/Maudy Tuesday/Fat Tuesday/etc. But, we have to remember, the requirements for Lent used to be much, much stricter. Today, in the US, we are asked to fast on Ash Wednesday & Good Friday and abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent. The requirement used to be a 40 day fast (except for Sundays), plus abstinence from meat on all Fridays of the year + all Lenten Saturdays. In addition, during the Middle Ages, the restrictions on what kinds of food people could eat for their meals during Lent were quite high. Fat Tuesday came about because the people were very restricted about what they could eat during Lent - and, since their was no refrigeration, the food would have spoiled by Easter. So, they had two choices - either throw the food out or eat it all. Unfortunately, people in some areas took it to excess and made it an excuse to throw a huge party.

Regardless, though - the reason why we celebrate the entire Triduum in the Catholic Church is to remind ourselves that Jesus died for our sins (the sins of all Christians and all of humanity) and to remind ourselves that every time we sin, we do crucify Jesus all over again. But, Jesus destroyed death by dying on the cross, and restored eternal life for us all by rising from the dead. Without the crucifixion, the resurrection would not have happened. Without the resurrection, the crucifixion would have been meaningless. Both needed to happen for Jesus’s mission to be complete.

I understand and agree with your post. The way the CC celebrates the Triduum is for me the highlight of the liturgical year. That is why I was astounded and saddened to hear that my Baptist friends do not partake in this in any way. They certainly do not know what they are missing.

My previous post was specifically in response to this objection to lent and fat Tuesday posted by 4Squarebaby

Originally Posted by 4Squarebaby View Post
Not that they teach it but that is how people see it. Lets blow out now before we have to be good. Thus fasting and prayer is not set to a schedule but just happens when called upon to do it.

 

[Miserissima]

It has been my experience that my Baptist friends see Easter as the beginning of Spring, because they focus on the Resurrection every day and especially Sunday, while the Passion takes a back seat to an over arching concept of renewal.

Liturgical churches that focus on Lent are more likely to vote Easter as a bigger deal.

 

[LegoGE1947]

It has been my experience that my Baptist friends see Easter as the beginning of Spring, because they focus on the Resurrection every day and especially Sunday, while the Passion takes a back seat to an over arching concept of renewal.

Liturgical churches that focus on Lent are more likely to vote Easter as a bigger deal.

It really blew me away when I discovered that liturgical churches often view Easter as a bigger deal than Christmas!

 

[Dulcinea2721]

It has been my experience that my Baptist friends see Easter as the beginning of Spring, because they focus on the Resurrection every day and especially Sunday, while the Passion takes a back seat to an over arching concept of renewal.

Liturgical churches that focus on Lent are more likely to vote Easter as a bigger deal.

Are you saying that since everyday is Easter then no day is Easter?

This concept works with what I have observed because they do not have a service on Christmas either. In fact, I think that they canceled their prayer group because Christmas was on a Wednesday. It surely is a different way of doing things.

 

[Miserissima]

Are you saying that since everyday is Easter then no day is Easter?

This concept works with what I have observed because they do not have a service on Christmas either. In fact, I think that they canceled their prayer group because Christmas was on a Wednesday. It surely is a different way of doing things.

In a nutshell, yes. Why have cake on your birthday of you have it every day for dessert?

I explained to a Baptist friend what Lent was about and she asked why on earth we’d do that. I decided to talk about the Liturgical Year that follows Christ’s life (instead of redemptive suffering) and she said, “You Catholics sure make it harder than it has to be.”

Perhaps, but I think it’s worth it.

 

[Dulcinea2721]

I used to attend a Baptist Church many years ago. It seems that there was an extra service on Easter Sunday mornings to accommodate the extra people. The sermon was about the Resurrection. I don’t recall any communion on Easter. I think we only had communion once a quarter and when we did it was grape juice and crackers similar to oyster crackers. They were served on a tray with tiny little glasses. The tray was passed around by the ushers like the offering basket/plate is. You would just help yourself. The church was filled with Easter Lillys. Most of the ladies wore pastel/spring colors with white corsages and white shoes. In the south you can wear white starting on Easter Sunday. After church there would be a big Easter Egg Hunt on the church grounds for the children.

One year I went to a “Sonrise” service on Easter Morning at sunrise. It was a non-denominational church near a beach. So we all showed up on the beach at sunrise wearing white. We sang songs and prayed. It was very informal.

I remember growing up being so impressed by my Catholic school mates. It was a tiny town so there was no Catholic school and only one Catholic church. I was fascinated at how they would give things up for Lent and how they attended Mass every Sunday. Their homes had statues of Mary, etc. They were very disciplined and very happy kids. When I was a little girl I remember telling my grandmother that I wanted to be Catholic and she said they worship Satan. She said the smoke (incense) is the devils breath. My parents thought The Church was a cult. Needless to say I was never allowed to go anywhere near a Catholic church.

I’m starting RCIA in the fall and have never been happier. You all may have no idea how lucky and blessed you were/are to be raised Catholic. It’s all truly a miracle.

View attachment 19720

Congratulations on your decision to join RCIA. and yes I do feel blessed to have been raised Catholic. Thank you for your post.

 

[Dulcinea2721]

In a nutshell, yes. Why have cake on your birthday of you have it every day for dessert?

I explained to a Baptist friend what Lent was about and she asked why on earth we’d do that. I decided to talk about the Liturgical Year that follows Christ’s life (instead of redemptive suffering) and she said, “You Catholics sure make it harder than it has to be.”

Perhaps, but I think it’s worth it.

FWIW I really look forward to the Easter Triduum. I love the last supper, the washing of the feet, Crucifixion and the Vigil. I think that the entire thing is beautiful and perhaps if your Baptist friend could experience the beauty and reverence of it, she would be as moved as I am.

Thank you for responding

 

[lantheria]

skimmed through the thread so it may have been mentioned already, but my church always has a good friday service.

Easter and holy week are so central to my catholic life I never even fathomed that other religions would not fuss about it.

slight bone to pick with your wording here; we are not of other religions, we are christians.

 

[Dulcinea2721]

skimmed through the thread so it may have been mentioned already, but my church always has a good friday service.

slight bone to pick with your wording here; we are not of other religions, we are christians.

Uh oh! I feel a can of worms opening up here but here it goes.

If for example we are filling out forms, under religion I would put Catholic, an Anglican would put Anglican, a Presbyterian would put Presbyterian, a Baptist would put Baptist, Jehovah’s Witness would put Jehovah’s Witnesses etc. All the stated religions profess to be Christian so I do not understand your bone,

 

[FabiusMaximus]

Uh oh! I feel a can of worms opening up here but here it goes.

If for example we are filling out forms, under religion I would put Catholic, an Anglican would put Anglican, a Presbyterian would put Presbyterian, a Baptist would put Baptist, Jehovah’s Witness would put Jehovah’s Witnesses etc. All the stated religions profess to be Christian so I do not understand your bone,

I’d assume the first bone is that you’re lumping Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Baptists with Jehovah’s Witnesses, a non-Trinitarian cult-like group.

 

[Dulcinea2721]

I’d assume the first bone is that you’re lumping Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Baptists with Jehovah’s Witnesses, a non-Trinitarian cult-like group.

Lantheria posted that he/she had a bone with my terms “other religions” stating that we were ALL of Christian religion.

So, I am not lumping all these together but Lantheria is lumping them together. therefore he/she has a bone to pick with the fact that I identified them as other religions.

I am still not sure why I was wrong.

 

[lantheria]

oh dear lord, what have i started.

i just don’t care for the labelling of christian denominations as different religions. the bible says we’re all one in christ, after all. to take your post a step further, if i was filling out a form i’d be putting “christian” under religion without even worrying about specifying what kind of church i go to.

hopefully that explanation suffices; i don’t want to get yelled at by the mods for derailing a thread, haha!

(ps. i’m a dude. )

 

[EvangelCatholic]

It really blew me away when I discovered that liturgical churches often view Easter as a bigger deal than Christmas!

Easter is the 'feast of all feasts".

 

[commenter]

Some posters have reflected that Baptist and other Evangelicals and Pentecostals have a varying degree of recognition of Easter. Has there been a noticeable change over the past couple generations? Where I live those groups seem to give greater emphasis on Easter than they used to, and a few are giving some attention to Good Friday, Holy Thursday, and even Pentecost. All these feasts are tied in with the liturgical calendar. My guess is that this was regarded with a little suspicion in the past, as a man-made invention.

 

[FabiusMaximus]

Some posters have reflected that Baptist and other Evangelicals and Pentecostals have a varying degree of recognition of Easter. Has there been a noticeable change over the past couple generations? Where I live those groups seem to give greater emphasis on Easter than they used to, and a few are giving some attention to Good Friday, Holy Thursday, and even Pentecost. All these feasts are tied in with the liturgical calendar. My guess is that this was regarded with a little suspicion in the past, as a man-made invention.

I know that in Italy, a lot of Evangelical churches distanced themselves from such traditions for this very reason. Because the vast majority of Evangelicals in Italy are ex-Catholics, everything they do is about decatholicization. Some groups do not even name their churches, because that is “a Catholic thing.” I remember the church where my father preached in Catania was referred to as “the church at Via Susanna.” Crossing oneself is entirely unacceptable, and Christmas was not to be a huge celebration, because again, that’s what “Catholics do.” When a couple of years ago an EU tribunal stated that crucifixes should be taken down from public schools, spokesmen for all the major non-Catholic denominations celebrated (regrettably) the decision as a hallmark for “religious freedom.”

I haven’t seen that as much here in the United States.

 

[Darryl_B]

i just don’t care for the labelling of christian denominations as different religions. the bible says we’re all one in christ, after all. to take your post a step further, if i was filling out a form i’d be putting “christian” under religion without even worrying about specifying what kind of church i go to.

This is not entirely correct. you have indeed put religion as “christian” but you do worry about specifying what kind of church you go to (baptist).