I don’t celebrate Easter
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2026 Blog #10
April 6, 2026
I don’t celebrate Easter
I don’t celebrate Easter, but I do celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. No, I don’t wish people a “Happy Easter”, but I do wish them a “Blessed Resurrection Day.” Some people may feel that I’m playing semantic games, but I’m not so sure. The resurrection of Jesus was greatly celebrated by the early church. This is a miracle celebration. No rational person could have predicted the resurrection of Jesus. Yet, his death, resurrection, and ascension is the core of the Christian Faith. Without the resurrection, we would not have a Christian Church,
The early church celebrated the resurrection as a high point in the liturgical year. It was more important than Christmas. It was centuries before the church moved away from “resurrection” and began celebrating “Easter.” How did we get from celebrating resurrection to celebrating “Easter?”
There are several different origins to the term Easter and scholars disagree on the true origin of the word. Which is correct, or do they all have a kernel of truth in them?
One of the scholarly threads claims that the word Easter comes from the anglicization of the name Hestia. Hestia was the Greek goddess of the hearth. She especially was venerated at the beginning of the spring. She, it was thought, had brought the family through the winter and she was given credit for this work. It could be argued that when we celebrate Easter, we are honoring Hestia. Do we in the church really want to be honoring a Greek goddess?
Other scholars believe that the term comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Eastre or Eostre. These words refer to the coming of spring and plant life growing once again. This is certainly something to be happy about. I love the coming of spring. I love this time of year. Flowers replace snow, the smells of spring come all around us, and even baseball begins once more. Spring is something to celebrate, but not enough to be the core of Christianity.
I love spring, but I don’t think that it has anything to do with Jesus’ resurrection. When we use the term “Easter,” we are either celebrating a pagan goddess or we are celebrating spring. Is this what the church needs to celebrate?
The core of Christianity comes from the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. If we wish to honor Jesus and his work, then I suggest that we celebrate “Resurrection Day.” At the very least, it says clearly what are celebrating. In our culture, when a person hears the term Easter, that person pictures chocolate bunnies and eggs, but most people don’t see an empty tomb and a risen Lord. Perhaps if we in the church begin to speak of Resurrection Day, we will let our communities know what we in the church really celebrate.
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