Minister's Message

Welcome to our church's website. We have seen a lot of technological changes in the past few years and this site is intended to provide the friends and members of the Centennial-Japanese United Church community a chance to obtain information and keep up-to-date on church activities.

I hope that this website will help our congregation and friends to become closer to God and to Jesus Christ.

Easter 2010

Dear Friends,
I was wondering about the word Easter as it is not mentioned in the Bible and so I did some research. The origin of Easter is actually based on an ancient pagan celebration. Christians recognize this day as commemorating the culminating event of their faith, but like many "Christian" holidays, Easter has become commercialized and mixed with non-Christian traditions like the Easter bunny, Easter parades, and Easter eggs.

Most reference books say that the name "Easter" is drived from the Eastre, the Teutonic goddess of spring. In reality, the origin of the name and the goddess are far morre ancient - going all the way back to Nimrod, Noah's talented and evil great-grandson, and Nimrod's wife, Queen Semiramis. After Nimrod's death, Semiramis ahd an illegitimate son, Tammuz, who she claimed was Nimrod reborn and that he was supernaturally conceived. The people also woshipped her as the goddess of fertility. In other cultures, she has been called Ishtar, Ashtur and yes, Easter.

The Easter Bunny seems to have its origins in Alsace and southwest Germany according to German writings in the 1600's. The first edible Easter Bunnies were made of pastry and sugar in Germany during the early 1800's. The Easter Bunny was introduced to America by the German settlers who arrived in Pennsylvania's Dutch country during the 1700's. The rabbit is well known as a sexual symbol of fertility and in many parts of the world, religions associate the rabbit with periodicity, both human and lunar. Remember that the Mother goddess, Semiramis (Easter) is associated with the Moon thus, the Easter Bunny symolizes the Mother Goddess. Springtime brings fertility and new life. The egg was a sacred symbol among Babylonians. They believed an old fable about a large egg which was supposed to have fallen from heaven into the Euphrates River and from this egg the Goddess Astarte was hatched. So the egg symolizes the Goddess Easter. The eggs were also a symbol of fertility.

We invite you, your family, relatives and friends to join us to worship and celebrate the real meaning of this important time in our Christian lives at the following events:

Sun. March 28 - 11:45am Palm Sunday celebration with communion
Fri. April 2 - 12:00pm Good Friday service
Sun. April 4 - 11:45am Easter (Resurrection) Sunday Service

On behalf of Rev. Cindy, our church council and myself, a very blessed Easter to you.

Henry Ichiyen
Chairperson of the CJUC Church Council