The retention of names like Sun-day or Easter shows how confident early Christians were that pagan gods would not make a comeback

In Chapter Two of the Letter to the Colossians Saint Paul outlines the essence of Christian belief. The great apostle says: ‘You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.

Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the Cross’.

Christian freedom is one consequence of the completeness of salvation that has been won for us.

This is celebrated a couple of sentences later by Saint Paul who says: ‘So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths’.

If Colin’s Christian faith has been enriched by exposure to Jewish culture, or experience of working in Israel, that is most excellent. But other people may find the calendar of the ‘Church Year’, as found in something like the Book of Common Prayer (or Breviary), reassuringly familiar and faith building.

The New Testament seems to allow us freedom of choice on which Sabbaths or holy days to keep.

Colin questions if pagan Roman names or ideas have been woven into the Church calendar, and if this might have had enduring negative spiritual impact.

Sunday (‘Sun-day’) and Easter (‘named after a fertility goddess’) are examples he cites. Colin questions if Christmas is another Roman addition, with absolutely no connection to the Jewish calendar. Sometimes it may be best to let the scripture speak for itself.

Saint Paul emphasises the completeness of the victory of the Cross: ‘In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.’

The completeness, of the victory of Calvary, has obliterated the importance of sun worship, and made the goddess behind the name Easter inconsequential.

The retention of names, like Sun-day or Easter, shows how confident early Christians were that the pagan gods would not be making a comeback: they were right.

The Moravian Church motto runs-’Our lamb has conquered, let us follow him’.

These words are a personal invitation, to everyone without exception, to the greatest adventure this life offers.

James Hardy, Belfast BT5