From Easter Day to ham and egg day

The sad new 21st century Easter prototype and the slow demise of Black Chrtianity!

Sunday was a near-perfect ‘Holy-day.’ 

The weather was nice, with no hint of a cloud in sight. Didn’t hear a gunshot all day. 

And my $6.29 drone didn’t pick up any reckless drivers along Fond du Lac, Good Hope Road, or North Avenue (although two of those sites were obscured by a marijuana cloud). 

I began my day by tuning into the Christ the King Baptist Church virtual Easter service, which was all the more unique because the recitation was provided by teen congregants, a rarity these days. 

The significance of the most crucial day in Christendom was provided at mid-morning by my pastor, Rev. Dr. Deborah Thomas, at our House of Grace Ministries service. 

Several hours later, I put my pit master skills to the test for our annual Easter BBQ meal. 

Collard greens, potato salad, fresh corn, and homemade cornbread were served buffet-style after our Africentric unity prayer. 

Board and card games followed, to a backdrop of oldies (he who hosts the dinner controls the tunes). 

Easter is celebrated as the penultimate ‘holy day’ in my household, as it has been for most of my life and generations past. 

There was a time when the majority of tribal members subscribed to a similar template. But that was before political and cultural influences converted Christianity to a non-traditional form of deism. 

In fact, that reality has prompted me to rename ‘Resurrection Day’ to a spring ‘Ham and Eggs Hoedown’ event for a growing segment of our village. 

Today, most families who can afford it (and many who can’t) will adorn their children in new fashions, not for the church, but for the family brunch and reunion. 

Instead of flowers and bibles, the Ham and Egg Holiday generates billions of dollars for ‘Easter’ Baskets, egg dye, and chocolate bunnies, a reminiscence of ancient fertility rituals. 

And instead of the racist showing of ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’ with a blond-haired, blue-eyed Jesus, children today are glued to their cell phones or syndicated television watching ‘The Hoes of Hot-lanta’ or the ‘Pimps of Pittsburg.’ 

Dinner consists of leftover boiled eggs and the $281 ham you got on sale, coated with Aunt Jemimah syrup and artificial pineapples. 

There are no prayers preceding the dinner meal since most family members are situated in front of the television, with paper plates on their laps. 

It’s a sad but widely accepted new prototype that speaks not only to the unique cultural and familial norm, but also to the slow demise of Black Christianity. 

Just as the recent state Supreme Court election was in part a rejection of Old Testament ‘theology’ in favor of an evolving New Testament cultural norm, we have replaced the pulpit with the political podium and the Cross with white rabbits and colored eggs. 

I’m not providing this insight to preach or promote Christianity but merely to note how the devaluation and rejection of our spiritual deterioration of the values and mores that made us a community versus a ‘reservation.’ 

That point came into focus early Sunday morning as I watched—as I usually do—back-to-back political/news talk shows. Except for one segment on Fox Sunday (I try to get diverse views), all of the Easter references were masked in political terms. 

The most impactful was a statement made by one of the two brilliant brothers who were kicked out of the Tennessee legislature for being ‘uppity.’ Justin Jones, reinstated by the Nashville Council Tuesday, called his ouster and the resulting national uproar a “death and resurrection.” 

The celebration of Easter 2023 provides a unique glimpse into a different cultural paradigm than the one I grew up under. The lines of culture, religion, and even politics have blurred, displacing the true significance of the holy day. 

Imagine, if you can, my upbringing when central city streets filled with young and old, adorned in their ‘new’ Easter clothes, almost without exception heading to a neighborhood church to celebrate what is considered the most critical day in Christendom: the one historical event that moved earth off its pagan axis. 

While it is a misnomer to suggest America was or is a ‘God-centered nation,’ it speaks volumes that Christianity was used to subjugate, demoralize and torture millions of Africans and justify the genocide of millions of indigenous natives.

Not by coincidence, an intact version of the Bible was the first textbook used in public schools. Another version was used for our African ancestors, who were denied knowledge of the book of Exodus. 

The New Covenant, however, provided a ray of hope, a band-aid for the pain. Easter was once a conduit and a glue holding our community together. 

Today, it is more about symbolism than substance. 

I was recently reading a series of statistics on Black Christianity that left me with the conclusion that when it comes to religion, most Black folks lie to themselves, but not to Nyame (God). 

Or, as a theology instructor once explained, many ‘Christians’ believe they can restructure, organize and amend religious tenets to suit their lifestyles. By that reasoning, wearing a gold cross and a $1K gold necklace makes you a Christian. 

Apparently, that ‘commitment’ is behind a Pew ‘survey’ that laments over 80% of African Americans consider themselves Christians. 

That response is as far removed from reality as Donald Trump is from sainthood. 

While it is not a statistically relevant nuance, Black church membership has been at its lowest point since Reconstruction. A sizable percentage of Black churches were so challenged by the pandemic that many of them closed permanently, a fact that was exacerbated by declining membership by Millennials. 

The Black membership survey was broken down by age and economics. Somewhat surprisingly, it revealed the higher the income, the smaller the affiliation. 

Forty-nine percent of ‘Christians’ made under $30,000. That percentage dropped to 10% for individuals making over $100,000. 

There was a similar educational disparity, with 47% of Black Christians having less than a high school diploma. That figure drops to seven percent for African Americans with a graduate degree. 

According to that same poll, single adults are more likely to consider themselves Christians. Conversely, only 6% of cohabitating couples share the Christian faith, which makes sense since that lifestyle is contrary to biblical teaching—assuming you take the Old Testament literally. 

While it was not categized, I would bet a dollar against a dime that a significantly higher percentage of African Americans who identify as Republicans, or moderate-to-conservative, viewed themselves as Christians. 

And among Democrats, twice as many follow New Testament scripture over the Tanakh. 

Moreover, a case can be made that we’ve allowed a political system to become a religion. For Democrats, the bible is an evolving document, just like the U.S. Constitution. 

Either way, you look at it, we are at a religious and cultural crossroads in America, pitting Old versus New, often determined by political, cultural, and economic interests. 

As someone who has followed different religious doctrines (fromdeism to liberation theology), I refuse to accept biblical ‘tenets’ onslavery and genocide. 

In fact, given my merging of various Africentric foundations whichpredate Judaism, you would be correct to suggest I, too, have strayed from the genesis path. 

Indeed, I wear a cross to reflect one element and an ankh representing the other. 

But I don’t lie to myself; my philosophy is grounded in research and observations. 

I celebrate Easter for what it is. And try to ignore the dichotomyof those who confuse the Easter Sunday Holy-day’ with the Easter Monday Holiday. 

The latter was, for decades, an unofficial spring tradition that grew out of a racist White House policy in 1878 that forbade ‘Coloreds’ from participating in the presidential (Easter) egg hunt. 

In response, the White House Colored domestic workers shiftedthe ‘hunt and roll’ to the local Zoo (Smithsonian). 

That celebration grew to over 50,000 people by 1919 and expanded to include gospel music, prayers, and sermons. 

Hmmm, sound familiar? 

Now that I think about it, maybe we should seek an official federaldesignation of an Easter Monday celebration to justify the newly purchased clothes, baskets, and chocolate. 

That holiday may bridge the theological/cultural gap or, at the very least, add some clarity to the discussion. 

Hell (no pun intended), they sold us Juneteenth as a holiday representing a lie (slavery ended two years later with the 13th amendment), so why not ‘Ham and Egg Day?’ —Hotep.