[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 37 (Thursday, March 20, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2605-S2607]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 EASTER

  Mr. BYRD. ``The year's at the spring; the day's at the morn; 
morning's at seven; the hillside's dew-pearled; the lark's on the wing; 
the snail's on the thorn; God's in his Heaven--all's right with the 
world.''
  Mr. President, the Senate is preparing to recess at the close of this 
week. Some Senators will use this time to travel to distant and exotic 
locations. Others will return home for busy rounds of meetings. Schools 
around the nation are also closing their doors for spring break. For 
many college students, spring break has become a beach vacation ritual, 
replete with loud parties, little self-restraint, and the over-
consumption of booze--alcohol. At home, spring sales are in full force, 
with stores luring credit-happy buyers away from the outdoor pleasures 
that warming days and budding gardens invite. The celebration of 
winter's passing and the rekindling of life all around us has been 
lost, for many, in the materialistic and hedonistic whirlwind of 
everyday life. Only the pastel colors of paper flowers link the 
climate-controlled interior of the shopping malls with the greening of 
the spring earth.
  But today is also the vernal equinox, that chiming peal on the 
celestial clock that marks the turning of the seasons, the day on which 
the periods of light and dark are again of equal length following the 
long, cold, dreary nights of winter. In 325 A.D., during the reign of 
that great convert to Christianity, the Emperor Constantine, the 
council of Nicaea met. With the help of the Archbishop of Alexandria 
and the astronomers of that distant day, the Council decreed that 
Easter should fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon 
following the vernal equinox. So, today we may look ahead with 
certainty toward the Sunday after next for the enduring celebration of 
that central mystery of the Christian faith, the resurrection of Jesus 
Christ.
  Mr. President, although in recent years the trend has been to strip 
every religious overtone from our calendar and from our schools--and 
thank God the Constitution protects my right to stand on this Senate 
floor and talk about whatever I may please. Let it be religion. The 
Supreme Court cannot do anything about it.
  So the trend has been to strip every religious overtone from our 
calendar and from our schools to rename the Christmas holiday a 
``winter break'' and the Easter holiday a ``spring break.'' I am not 
sure that the result--a nation more interested in consumption, 
department store sales, junk television, and professional sports 
performances, than in church, community and family--is a happy one. I 
still believe that there is a deep wellspring of religious belief that 
sustains our Nation as it does in the close-knit and caring communities 
in which I grew up. The community churches which still thrive in West 
Virginia were the focal point of towns and communities of my childhood.
  And contrary to the beliefs of some of our sophisticated brethren in 
Washington and some of the other great metropolitan centers in this 
country, they do not have rattlesnakes in all of those churches. As a 
matter of fact, I have never been in a church where there was a 
rattlesnake--a few two-legged ones perhaps, but that is where they 
ought to go, to church. Social life revolved around Sunday services and 
activities sponsored by, or otherwise intimately linked with, the 
church and celebrations of faith. But as I witness the slow unraveling 
of our communities, their weave frayed by casual greed and picked apart 
by drugs and violence, I worry that the clear-flowing waters of family, 
church and community that nourished me and millions like me are 
becoming fouled and turbid. The erosion of Easter into a crass and 
commercial ``spring break'' is but one sad example of the materialistic 
trend in this country and in this age. More media coverage is awarded 
to the excesses of Mardi Gras on Fat, or Shrove, Tuesday--also called 
Pancake Day--than on the entire forty days of Lent. I wonder how many 
people who dress up and masquerade in that carnival parade recall that 
the original purpose of Mardi Gras was to prepare for the Lenten fasts 
by using up the available cooking oil and fat in a pre-fast eating 
binge? The binge was fun, but it did not blot out the central religious 
purpose of the repentant fast to follow.

  Mr. President, Easter Sunday ends forty days of religious observance 
beginning with Ash Wednesday, set as the beginning of Lent by Pope 
Gregory at the beginning of the sixth century. This coming Sunday is 
known as Palm Sunday, in observance of the palm-strewn entrance of 
Jesus into Jerusalem. The following Friday, or Good Friday, marks the 
day that Jesus suffered on the Cross and died. It is a solemn day 
indeed, yet I fear that, for too many people, it is just another day 
off from work, filled with errands, or shopping, or travel, with not a 
passing thought given to the suffering of God's only Son on the cross.
  I am not a minister. I do not profess to be worthy of the title. But 
I grew up in a Christian home. My foster father was a coal miner and my 
foster mother was the only mother I ever knew. They were religious 
people. They were not of the religious left or of the religious right. 
They were not of the Christian center or the Christian left or the 
Christian right. Neither am I. They just were plain, down-to-Earth, 
God-fearing, God-loving Christian parents.
  And, so it is that I come to the Senate Chamber today, as I say, not 
as a cleric or as a minister. I probably could not be one. But I do 
believe in the Bible and its teachings, even though I have

[[Page S2606]]

not always found it so easy to live up to those teachings.
  Easter Sunday is not just a day to mark with brightly colored hard-
boiled eggs or chocolate bunnies, or with jelly beans and plastic grass 
in wicker baskets. All of these ancient symbols of spring and rebirth 
have their place, but it disturbs me to think that children may know 
Christmas day only for its early morning toy-filled stockings, and 
Easter only for its baskets and Easter egg hunts.
  Easter Sunday commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I do not 
ask everyone to believe as I do. I do not ask everyone to be a 
missionary Baptist. It does not make any difference to me whether the 
Senator from Illinois, the Senator from Idaho, or the Senator from Iowa 
is a Baptist or a Methodist or an Episcopalian or Catholic or Jewish 
rabbi or Moslem; it doesn't make any difference to me. I can listen to 
all of them and still maintain my own way of looking at things.
  So, all of these ancient symbols of spring and rebirth have their 
place. But it disturbs me to think that children, as I say, may know 
Easter only as a day for baskets and Easter egg hunts.
  Easter Sunday commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And I 
now read from the King James version. That is the only version I will 
read. That is the Bible that was in my father's house. It is the only 
one I know and the only one I will have in my house. So I read from the 
King James version of the Bible the Gospel of St. Mark, Chapter 16, 
verses 1-7. Let us listen to Mark. He was the attendant of Peter. He 
speaks to us of the resurrection:

       And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the 
     mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that 
     they might come and anoint him.

       And very early in the morning the first day of the week, 
     they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun.
       And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the 
     stone from the door of the sepulcher?
       And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled 
     away: for it was very great.
       And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a young man 
     sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; 
     and they were affrighted.
       And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of 
     Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: 
     behold the place where they laid him.
       But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth 
     before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said 
     unto you.

  So Easter is a vivid and lasting celebration of the promise of life 
after death. Like spring itself, Easter is, in its essence, a 
celebration of the rebirth of living things. That hope, that promise of 
life after death, guides our behavior in the here-and-now. It 
reinforces the need to act not only in our own selfish interests, but 
also for the common good, else we be judged unworthy of Christ's 
sacrifice. It sustains us when we encounter harsh difficulties and 
tragic events in our lives--and I know because I have experienced such, 
as have many others of us in this Chamber.
  We believe that there is a better life still to come. And, if we did 
not have that hope, then this life would be empty. The promise of a 
life after death comes to us through John, ``the beloved disciple''. 
Reading from the King James version of the Bible, the Gospel of St. 
John, Chapter 20, verses 24-31:

       But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with 
     them when Jesus came.
       The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen 
     the Lord. But he [Thomas] said unto them, Except I shall see 
     in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into 
     the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I 
     will not believe.
       And after eight days again his disciples were within, and 
     Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and 
     stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
       Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and 
     behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it 
     into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
       And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
       Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, 
     thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and 
     yet have believed.
       And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his 
     disciples, which are not written in this book:
       But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is 
     the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have 
     life through his name.

  And so, Mr. President, that is the promise--``that believing'' we 
might have life. The next two weeks may be a recess for some, and for 
some a ``spring break,'' but for millions of Americans, the next two 
weeks are also a life-affirming celebration of the greatest gift any of 
us has ever received--hope in a future life. For those who have lost 
loved ones, Easter brings the joyous hope that we can again see, we can 
again be with that loved one, as I lost my grandson 15 years ago this 
coming April the 12th. He died on the Monday morning after Easter 
Sunday, perhaps around 3:30, 4 o'clock in the morning, the victim of a 
truck crash into a tree and a fire that devastated his beautiful body--
17 years old, looking forward to graduation from high school, 6 feet 5, 
and 300 pounds, all man, with life ahead of him. And there are others 
in this Chamber who have suffered the loss of a child or a grandchild 
or a parent, a sister or brother or wife or husband. We can see our 
loved ones again.
  So Easter represents the resurrection, it is the celebration of the 
resurrection, and it gives us hope that there will be a future 
resurrection. That is what it means to millions of people in this 
country.
  As the sun warms our backs, and the spring breezes carry past us the 
mingled scents of pear blossoms and magnolia blossoms and the warm 
earth, let us offer our heartfelt prayers for our faith, for our 
family, for our church, for our community, and for our Nation. I hope 
that my colleagues and those who hear or read my words will also take a 
few moments away from the commerce of everyday life to reflect on the 
true reason why a recess is scheduled at this time--to celebrate this 
most holy of Christian holidays, Easter.
  Edwin L. Sabin captures both the solemnity and the joy of Christ's 
resurrection in his poem, ``Easter:''

     The barrier stone has rolled away,
     And loud the angels sing;
     The Christ comes forth this blessed day
     To reign, a deathless King.
     For shall we not believe He lives
     Through such awakening?
     Behold, how God each April gives
     The miracle of Spring.

  Mr. President, I invite my colleagues to recall this miracle, and the 
faith that gives them and gives communities throughout our Nation the 
strength to persevere--to fight against the violence, the greed, and 
the moral decay that threaten the fabric of our families, our 
communities, and our Nation.
  I also invite my colleagues and my fellow citizens--and I invite 
myself--to again see Easter Sunday as the celebration of the 
resurrection and the promise that there is a life after death. William 
Jennings Bryan and my congenial colleague from the State of Illinois, 
Mr. Durbin, will appreciate this especially. William Jennings Bryan 
expressed it well in ``The Prince of Peace'':

       If the Father deigns to touch with divine power the cold 
     and pulseless heart of the buried acorn and to make it burst 
     forth from its prison walls, will He leave neglected in the 
     earth the soul of man, made in the image of his Creator? If 
     He stoops to give to the rosebush, whose withered blossoms 
     float upon the autumn breeze, the sweet assurance of another 
     springtime, will He refuse the words of hope to the sons of 
     men when the frosts of winter come? If matter, mute and 
     inanimate, though changed by the forces of nature into a 
     multitude of forms, can never be destroyed, will the imperial 
     spirit of man suffer annihilation when it has paid a brief 
     visit like a royal guest to this tenement of clay? No, I am 
     sure that He who, notwithstanding His apparent prodigality, 
     created nothing without a purpose, and wasted not a single 
     atom in all of His creation, has made provision for a future 
     life in which man's universal longing for immortality will 
     find its realization. I am as sure that we live again as I am 
     sure that we live today.

  William Jennings Bryan spoke those words in ``The Prince of Peace.''
  Mr. President, may all of us, as we approach the blessed Easter 
season, enjoy renewed hope in the message that we shall live again.
  And when you get closer to 79--79 years and 4 months, as I am today--
the more you will believe and begin to see more and more the truth, the 
universal truth, the eternal truth that God still lives, that He 
created this great universe and all the universes, and that He created 
man. I don't know how He created man. I am not worried about that, by 
what method or through what process all that was done. But we are told 
that God created man out of the dust of

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the ground in His own image, and breathed into his nostrils the breath 
of life. And man became a living soul. That is good enough for me.
  So, Mr. President, as we approach this Easter, let us learn again the 
message that comes to us from Him who said 2,000 years ago: ``I, if I 
be lifted up from the Earth, will draw all men unto me.''
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. GRASSLEY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa is recognized.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, before I speak on the subject that I am 
here to speak on, I want to thank the Senator from West Virginia for 
his statement. I know that he believes what he says. And I think that 
he does a wonderful public service by the expression of that 
philosophy.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator.

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