The Great Thing about being a Calvinist

You don’t have to sweat the commercialization of Easter.

Mollie Hemingway, a Lutheran, is right to complain about the triumph of the Easter Bunny over Jesus:

Earlier this week I went to get my children Easter cards. I was in a holiday store that sells goods for Christmas, Halloween, and Easter. Its Easter card selection was cute but didn’t include anything even remotely religious. So I went to the neighborhood card store to pick up something a bit more on-topic for the highest day of the church year.

Paper Source had a bunch of cards featuring bunnies. Some chicks. Dogs with bunny ears. Cats with bunny ears. One card was just bunny ears with no animal attached to them at all. The only remotely religious card was one making light of Judas. My children, who recently chastised me for saying the “Easter ‘A’ word” while singing a Bruno Mars song, would probably cry and/or riot if I gave that to them.

I went up to the counter and asked to be directed to the religious Easter card selection. The lady at the counter took me right back to the Judas card. Literally, a card teasing about Judas.

But a Reformed Protestant (read Calvinist) never has to worry about such commercial exchanges. The reason is that Reformed churches (especially the ones from the British Isles) never followed the church calendar. For Calvinists, every Sunday is a holy day and that’s why the Sabbath needs to be sanctified. And for Calvinists, every Sunday is Easter because saints gather on the day when Christ rose from the dead and triumphed over sin and death.

Imagine what a liberating experience it is to have Easter every week. Also, imagine the savings you experience by not having to shop for Easter (or Christmas) paraphernalia.

Calvinism has its disadvantages, to be sure. H. L. Mencken once quipped that Calvinism occupied a place in his “cabinet of private horrors” right next to cannibalism. But during the so-called holidays, it has its moments.

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