Happy Easter 2017!

If you are observ­ing the East­er hol­i­day today, please accept best wish­es from all of us at the North­west Pro­gres­sive Institute.

East­er is the most sig­nif­i­cant holy day for Christianity’s many denom­i­na­tions, although not all of them are cel­e­brat­ing it today. Pas­sages like the fol­low­ing excerpt from the Gospel of Matthew (28:1–10) are com­mon­ly read dur­ing East­er ser­vices and litur­gies as part of Chris­t­ian com­mu­ni­ties’ obser­vance of the hol­i­day, as they are con­sid­ered author­i­ta­tive accounts of the East­er sto­ry by Christians.

After the sab­bath, as the first day of the week was dawning,
Mary Mag­da­lene and the oth­er Mary came to see the tomb.
And behold, there was a great earthquake;
for an angel of the Lord descend­ed from heaven,
approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it.
His appear­ance was like lightning
and his cloth­ing was white as snow.
The guards were shak­en with fear of him
and became like dead men.
Then the angel said to the women in reply,
“Do not be afraid!
I know that you are seek­ing Jesus the crucified.
He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said.
Come and see the place where he lay.
Then go quick­ly and tell his disciples,
‘He has been raised from the dead,
and he is going before you to Galilee;
there you will see him.’
Behold, I have told you.”
Then they went away quick­ly from the tomb,
fear­ful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce this to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greet­ed them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my broth­ers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”

Read­ers inter­est­ed in Res­ur­rec­tion-themed reflec­tions may want to read this year’s East­er homi­ly from Michael G. Ryan. Father Ryan has been the pas­tor of St. James (the Cathe­dral Church of the Roman Catholic Arch­dio­cese of Seat­tle) since 1988, and has pub­licly cham­pi­oned many pro­gres­sive caus­es from the pul­pit, includ­ing cli­mate action, immi­gra­tion reform, and gun respon­si­bil­i­ty. Every year, he posts his East­er homi­ly for the enjoy­ment of peo­ple around the world.

East­er reads:

• On East­er, chic in every­thing but black (The New York Times)
• Sun­day hats: spe­cial beyond East­er (The Seat­tle Times)
• Amid reminders of blood­shed and oppres­sion across the Mid­dle East, belea­guered Chris­tians cel­e­brate East­er (Los Ange­les Times)
• Car­di­nal Cupich gives East­er bless­ing to fam­i­lies vic­tim­ized by vio­lence (Chica­go Tribune)
• Pope deliv­ers his Urbi et Orbi mes­sage (Vat­i­can News)

Again, Hap­py Easter!