Today we celebrate the most important Christian holiday of the entire year. We will do this by painting eggs and eating chocolate bunny rabbits and bizarre mounds of marshmallow and sugar known as peeps. And while scholars, such as myself, are more interested in the origins of the fabled peeps, somehow it seems appropriate that I turn my attention toward the even stickier subject of the origins of Easter. There is always that danger when digging into the history of any subject that you are going to uncover information which may challenge or shake your faith in long held beliefs. And I am not sure...

Very, very early in the morning, while it was still dark outside, Mary, a woman from Magdala, and one of the closest of those who followed Jesus around for three years, went to the his grave and found that the tomb had been opened. There had been a large stone placed over the opening, but the stone had been lifted off. So, finding this somewhat upsetting, she ran back to where Peter and John were. She told them of her findings. She said that someone had taken the master. Peter and John immediately ran, John running a little faster than the older Peter, to where the tomb was and saw the...

The other day, up in Big Sur, as we were taking a short hike up to Pfeiffer Falls along a beautiful little trail in Pfeiffer State Park, I was thinking of my friend Paul. Paul used to love that hike. For one thing, it is a pretty hike. The trail is lined with sycamore, laurel (thanks Beth), and giant coastal redwoods. The path meanders back and forth over a small creek that bubbles and jumps over rocks and fallen branches. The trees rise like the walls of a gothic cathedral casting shady shadows everywhere. And for another thing, it is an easy hike. The whole trip, to the falls and back,...

The people from the land of Grammaria have asked me to talk to the public once again. It seems that a certain word in our English language is being abused, and if there is one thing for which the Grammarians will not stand, it is word abuse. And Americans are the worst (or best, depending on your point of view) at word abuse. Let us take, for example, the popular expression—butt naked, as in, “We went swimming in the Jacuzzi butt naked.” This is incorrect, and will cause the citizens of Grammaria to laugh at you. The correct term is “buck naked”. This refers back to a time...

On this day, April 1st, in the year 1621, Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags signed the first peace treaty between Native Americans and white Pilgrims, feeling certain that the white people meant no harm to Indian peoples. Moreover, also on this date, back in 1789, the newly established United States House of Representatives held its first full formal meeting. Thus, on this date, Congress was born. Is it any wonder they call it April Fools’ Day? Many people wonder about the origin of this famous holiday dedicated to the great human tradition of playing practical jokes on other people. According...

I was listening to one of those radio stations where I like to park myself now and again in order to listen to a program about the paranormal. This particular night, the host had an expert on alien abductions on the show. He was explaining everything about the aliens we needed to know, and you know, if there are aliens living here, I want to know about them, that’s for sure. So I decided to listen for awhile. I found out some interesting things. There was enough of interest to induce me to go exploring the subject a little deeper. And you, dear Reverbians, are the beneficiaries of...

Today is Palm Sunday. It is the beginning of what Roman Catholics and most other Christians as well, refer to as “Holy Week”. Each day of this week has some significance. It begins with Palm Sunday. Then follows Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, culminating with Easter Sunday. This weeks marks when Jesus came into Jerusalem ending with his crucifixion and resurrection. The event commemorated on Palm Sunday is told in all four gospels (Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, John 12). The Matthew narrative, the one most commonly read in services on Palm Sunday, tells the...

After all you’ve been given Ain’t it time to give some back This life you’re livin’ Is seriously off track You think you understand You may think you really know But when it comes to understanding God You got a long long way to go Standing on the corner Begging for a buck Stands a lonely beggar A little down upon his luck Not the kind of guy you or I might want to see What you do to the least of these You do to me Blessed are the poor in spirit They shall have their fill People do not understand I guess they never will Give us this day, our daily bread And shield...

I used to spend a lot of my time being pissed off. And, before I venture further, I would like to address the dangling preposition in the previous sentence. Once upon a time, it was the mark of the poorly educated to end a sentence with a preposition. It just wasn’t done. Modern Grammarians (those people from Grammaria), realizing that language changes, have begun to allow this to some degree. There are others, who refuse to surrender to this new fangled allowance, and prefer to create hopelessly convoluted awkward sentences in order to avoid using a preposition with which to end...

Back in July of 2003, 86 year-old George Weller of Santa Monica was driving his 1992 Buick La Sabre down the streets of his city when he turned his car mistakenly down a street where a farmer’s market was being held. He was taken by surprise. He wasn’t expecting an open-air market to be there. He went to step on the brakes, but his foot his the gas instead. A few moments later nine people were dead. Weller was arrested and charged with manslaughter. People were calling for him to be locked up in prison. I am not going to get into whether or not senior citizens should be allowed to drive...