Theologian's Almanac for Week of April 10, 2022
Welcome to SALT’s “Theologian’s Almanac,” a weekly selection of important birthdays, holidays, and other upcoming milestones worth marking — specially created for a) writing sermons and prayers, b) creating content for social media channels, and c) enriching your devotional life.
For the week of Sunday, April 10:
April 10 is Palm Sunday, commemorating Jesus’ jubilant entry into Jerusalem. It’s essentially a piece of street theater dramatizing Zechariah’s ancient prophecy: the long-awaited divine monarch arrives on a humble donkey, announcing “peace to the nations” (Zech 9:9-10). Shout hosanna! The new era, the Great Jubilee, has begun! Check out SALT’s commentary on Palm (and Passion) Sunday here.
April 10 is also the birthday of Anne Lamott, beloved author and hilarious, down-to-earth Christian disciple. Here’s some vintage Lamott, perfect for the Lent and Easter seasons (or all year round!): “I heard a preacher say recently that hope is a revolutionary patience; let me add that so is being a writer. Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.” And here’s Lamott’s instant-classic TED talk on “everything I know for sure.”
April 12 is the day in 1633 that Galileo Galilei was brought before the Inquisition for supporting the idea that the Earth revolves around the sun, rather than the other way around. After agreeing to formally recant, he was sentenced to indefinite house arrest — and died at home eight years later. But what Galileo said in his defense is worth recalling: he insisted that scientific research and Christian faith are entirely compatible, and that in fact, study of the universe would promote the proper interpretation of Scripture. This is the perfect week to remember and affirm his wisdom — and his brilliance. Indeed, legend has it that immediately after he recanted, as he rose from kneeling before his inquisitors, Galileo defiantly whispered, e pur, si muove (“even so, it does move”).
April 13 is the day in 1964 that Sidney Poitier became the first African-American to be awarded the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in “Lilies of the Field,” a film about a group of nuns who come to believe an African-American itinerant worker has been sent to them by God to help them build a chapel.
April 14 is Maundy Thursday, “maundy” from the Latin mandatum, “command” or “mandate,” a reference to the “new commandment” Jesus gives his disciples on the eve of his death: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34). Not an abstract or generic “love,” then, but a love “just as I have loved you”: compassionate and tangible, as simple and strong as kneeling to wash someone’s feet and then drying them with a towel (John 13:1-15).
April 15 is Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. All four Gospels link the crucifixion to Passover, a clear signal that we should understand his death first and foremost as a sign that God is once again liberating God’s people, inaugurating a New Exodus in the tradition of the exalted exodus from Egypt.
April 15 is also this year’s beginning of Passover, the Jewish commemoration of the Israelites’ exodus out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom. The holiday is marked in many Jewish homes by a Passover seder, a festive meal dramatizing the exodus through stories, song, and ritual foods, such as matzah (unleavened bread) and maror (bitter herbs).
April 15 is also traditionally tax day in the United States (this year, it’s Monday, April 18) — not often understood as a theological event! But taxes, after all, are a primary means by which we, the people, pool and allocate our collective resources for the sake of the community as a whole: bridges and roads, Medicare and the military, food security and public education. The earliest Christian communities also organized themselves with this basic underlying choreography: pooling and allocating (Acts 4:34-35). Exactly how we pool and allocate remains a subject of intense debate, of course — but in any case, while it’s common to grumble about “paying taxes to the government,” in fact our taxes are one of the most concrete, consequential ways we chip in to support one another.
April 15 is also the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci, born in Vinci, Italy, in 1452. A man of multiple interests and talents, he’s best known for his mural, The Last Supper (worth recalling this week in particular, since that supper itself will be commemorated on April 14 this year), and of course the enigmatic Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa hangs today in the Louvre in Paris, typically surrounded by a throng of cell-phone-toting tourists — but just a few feet away is another Leonardo masterpiece that often goes unnoticed: his haunting portrait of John the Baptizer, emerging from the shadows, pointing toward the cross.
April 15 is also the feast day of St. Ruadan (“ruadan” means “red-haired”), considered one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, born in Leinster in the sixth century CE. According to the Book of Leinster (a medieval Irish manuscript), St. Ruadan’s day is when the birds are released from the thrall of winter.
April 16 is Holy Saturday, for Christians a day of silence and waiting, and also the day, it is said, when Jesus “descended into Hell” to free those held captive there. It is a day of shadows and ambiguity, a time of mourning and hope-against-hope. Holy Saturday’s silence is broken by the “Alleluia” of the late-night Easter Vigil or the dawn of Easter morning.