i asked my sunday school class to do a little free association on a question. "what would your life be like if there were no resurrection?" most of my kids (atleast the ones who talk) mentioned that they would be Jewish. some understood that there wouldn't be a new testament as a Jewish faith (news to others). Jesus would just be a teacher tucked away somewhere in history. my thoughts wandered to how widespread the Jewish culture would span the world and if certain groups of people would be Jewish, like the celts. a question i couldn't answer for myself (but that wasn't the aim of this excercise) was if the Jewish faith has a sense of mission to spread their faith, like that of the Christian faith. in all if you really wrapped your imagination around it, and i don't think my kids could completely imagine all aspects of their life changing. they were basically stuck on the Jewish faith and that they'd be reading Leviticus. i got some good stares when i told the youth that if we didn't have an
Easter morning then there wouldn't be a Christmas... whoa!! but it is
true, everyone was born at some time, but only Christ beat death.
amazing to think how different life would be if Christ had not risen on this Easter day. such a foundation to our faith that i think gets watered down in our teachings. our faith in this resurrection is certainly core to our Christianity.
Πιστεύω εις Θεον Πατερα, παντοκράτορα, ποιητην ουρανου και γης.
Και (εις) `Ιησουν Χριστον, υίον αυτου τον μονογενη, τον κύριον ήμων, τον συλληφθέντα εκ πνεύματοσ άγίου, γεννηθέντα εκ Μαρίας της παρθένου, παθόντα επι Ποντίου Πιλάτου, σταυρωθέντα, θανόντα, και ταφέντα, κατελθόντα εις τα κατώτατα, τη τρίτη `ημέρα `αναστάντα `απο των νεκρων, `ανελθόντα εις τους ουρανούς, καθεζόμενον εν δεξια θεου πατρος παντο δυνάμου, εκειθεν ερχόμενον κρϊναι ζωντας και νεκρούς.
Πιστεύω εις το Πνυμα το `Αγιον, αγίαν καθολικην εκκλησίαν, αγίων κοινωνίαν, άφεσιν αμαρτιων, σαρκος ανάστασιν, ξωήν αιώνιον. Αμήν.
not sure if you can read this greek written apostle's creed, i know i can't, but on this Easter day i am enjoying just looking over it and reciting the creed in my native language.
