to be cross with my elderly fil about the meaning of easter

[nickschick]

Bit tongue in cheek really.

FIL was today bemoaning the fact that he couldnt go to tesco for his cigar supply as they were shut for Easter.

Its only Easter he said they could have had usual Sunday hours ,its not like Christmas or anything.....

ONLY EASTER?????? i SHOUTED - JESUS DIED ON A CROSS FOR US!!!! EASTER IS MORE SPECIAL THAN CHRISTMAS - YES EASTER IS IMPORTANT.

and that sais dh is why you should never discuss religion with a catholic especially not one who sat in a cold church for an hour and a half last night at the easter vigil.

Lol at onager's "in them forren places". Have you been to visit my little Minnesotan town, then?

Onager, I do agree with what you wrote in your last post to an extent. However, this country has operated on a Christian bearing for the last however many years. It, still is a Christian country and since so many people want to live here, I guess those rules are seen as pretty damn good to others. I don't want to change it.

Even if you are not Christian, it's still nice to celebrate family time on these days. Blimey, they are just about the only time people don't have to work. If every day becomes a working day then it's all gone wrong and there is nothing to look forwards to.

back in a bit, but to respond to the short bit >>they are just about the only time people don't have to work.

mathanxiety, I 'think' you misunderstood there. I was referring not to millions of shopworkers (there will only be a few hundreds actually bothered about it I expect), but the millions of OTHER workers in other industries

If you're all so bothered about people having family time on a special day, can you campaign for no buses, trains, taxis, bars, restaurants or anything else to open at easter then, so we can all have the day off? Or is your fixation on just shops so that you can still do anything else you want to do, while slagging off those of us who want to pop in to Tesco's?

There are lots of service industries, employing millions of people. I was in the 'hospitality' industry. And my experience was in the US, where hardly anything closes for a whole day and 24/7 shopping is the norm, and millions are affected by the requirement to work on holidays. (The 'cigar shopping' was an example.)

This thread was about wanting shops being closed for the holy days and that is what christians go on about when talking about respecting their faith.

So mathanxiety surely you must agree then that generally it isn't about the shopworkers, but about christians wanting to forbid us shopping on their day.
If it were about the workers people wouldn't be just talking about closing shops would they.

Anyone got any feelings about if shops could be self service on those days? I'd love to hear from a christian that they would be perfectly ok about hordes of people shopping in that case.

Onagar, I'm one. Yes, I want to spend the bulk of the Easter weekend in church, but that doesn't mean I want to control what other people do. I'd mourn the loss of something that's been around longer than I have if shops did open, but it'd never cross my mind to attempt to 'forbid' anyone from shopping on Easter Sunday. I don't actually understand why more shops aren't open, since some small shops are, and pubs and restaurants tend to be. Can't personally see much difference between wanting to pop into Tesco for some fags and nipping down the Fox for a gin and tonic...
FWIW, I don't actually think the point of the OP was the shop opening. I think she was simply trying to make the point that, in terms of the Christian calendar, Easter is the more important feast, and the shop opening was a convenient way to illustrate this, since they're not open on Christmas Day.

Yes, that was her point, Whydobirdssuddenlyappear -- the relative theological importance of Easter and Christmas, Easter being the more significant.

yawn