Insurrection Sunday 2025...
- Thomas Tittmann
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Celebrated by Christians as "Resurrection Sunday"...I'm "hear" to offer some unorthodox interpretations...
I chose this as my thumbnail because it's like a mirror image of my 2024 Easter Sunday post at this same venue. Also, because I've been writing about and participating in events celebrating LIFE in all its forms and at all stages of EXISTENCE (please see my blog), this blackboard image (enlarged in the inset) caught my attention:
"Respect Existence OR Expect resistance"
2025...Thanks to Brew barista JAY for once again serving as my Paparazzi...
2024...
"As I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy..."
As I left to practice this daily ritual/sacred text...
FYI - The Witches Brew "boilermaker" I mentioned in the description for this post is made by dropping a shot of their espresso into a cup of their fine coffee...Extra inspiration...
...as I left my home, I was greeted by a frequent visitor in these parts of West Hempstead...More "hare-brained" humor follows...
FYI - In these environs, we also have leapin' lizards...see end of post...
At the Brew, I was greeted by a barista I just met who was wearing this tee with a skull rabbit and asked him it's meaning.
My search for "Hazel skull rabbit" led me here...and continued my weekend explorations into respect for all forms of life...at all stages...
RESURRECTION RABBIT...
Yesterday afternoon, the Westerners of our West Hempstead Volunteer Fire Department made their annual appearance as they made their rounds to the delight of children of all ages.
In my alternative perspective, the hare was acting as a savior and using the West Hempstead Fire Department to baptize those who are on the Highway to Hell…or at least on the sidewalks...
"LOVE ONE ANOTHER": JESUS AS AN INSURRECTIONIST
The political and religious leaders of his time saw Jesus as a threat to their established order...their methods of controlling those "under" their authority...or as Jagger swaggers:
"Under my Thumb"
SO, instead of acting like those he was critiquing, he practiced his UNorthodox principle:
"LOVE one another"
This was echoed today on this tee shirt worn by another young Witches Brew barista:
Marvin Gaye sings it like this:
A MERE 300 YEARS AFTER JESUS, THE CHURCH JOINS FORCES WITH THE EMPIRE...AND FORGETS...those at the bottom...on the edges of society...
313 AD: the Emperor Constantine declares Christianity as the official religion of the Holy Roman Empire and the Church replaces it's earlier "view from the bottom" with alignment with those in power...at the top.
The last great formal persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ended in AD 303. Ten years later, Christianity was legalized by Constantine I. After this structural change, Christianity increasingly accepted, and even defended, the dominant social order, especially concerning war and money. Morality became individualized and largely sexual.
The Church slowly lost its free and alternative vantage point. Texts written in the hundred years preceding 313 show it was unthinkable that a Christian would fight in the army, as the army was killing Christians. By the year 400, the entire army had become Christian, and they were now killing the pagans.
Before AD 313, the Church was on the bottom of society, which is the privileged vantage point for understanding the liberating power of Gospel for both the individual and for society. Overnight the Church moved from the bottom to the top, literally from the catacombs to the basilicas. The Roman basilicas were large buildings for court and other public assembly, and they became Christian worship spaces.
"IF I WERE A CARPENTER AND YOU WERE A LADY..."
I just awoke with yet another addition...last evening, Eileen selected for our evening movie "A Simple Twist of Fate." Steve Martin starred as well as wrote and directed this story that reminded me of Joseph and Mary...It involves Martin as an early 20th century Joseph who chooses to raise a child he didn't father. As the child grows, the wealthy natural father, a corrupt political hack, attempts to shower his offspring with gifts and promises of a better life that she could ever have with her poorer foster dad...Who, happens to be a woodworker like Joseph.
MORE ADVENTURES IN THE WILD
Wade in the water...NAW! Walk on the water...
"Leapin' lizards!"...West Hempstead wall lizards
I disagree with the article's claim that there aren't any other local lizard species...as this "lounge lizard" species is often sighted in and near local "watering holes"...
GOOD vs. EVIL: A MUSICAL BATTLE OF THE BANDS
I was thinking about creating a 2025 post of all the things for which I'm forever "GRATEFUL"...BUT...when I reread my 2024 Easter post, I decided to add to this 2025 Easter basket post the above musings and highlight two of "battle-of-the-bands" songs I had included in that 2024 missive.
I'll let you decide who "wins" this epic...age-old battle...
Evil Is a Social Reality: What Can We Do About It?
In case you're interested, here's a perspective from a person and organization that has helped me see deeper and wider for over 50 years...
As always, the music touched me. If I Were A Carpenter is my favorite Bobby Darin song, good hearing Robert Plant's version, as well as Knocking On Heaven's Door by the Grateful Dad. Good reflections, Tom. 😊👍❤️❤️❤️