Winning Ways: The Most Significant Day in History

In the latest issue of The Atlantic magazine, prominent historians were asked, "What day most changed the course of history?"

I think they missed one.

Yale professor Timothy Snyder suggested December 11, 1241, the day the Mongol emperor Ogedei Khan died, forcing Batu Khan to return to Mongolia to deal with the emperor's succession. This interrupted his drive into Vienna, an invasion that would have made European history very different.

Then there's Princeton professor Anne-Marie Slaughter, who offered July 4, 1776, the day the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Again, Philip Jenkins of Penn State thought that June 22, 1941, made a good candidate: the date of the ill-conceived Nazi invasion of Russia, ultimately leading to Hitler’s defeat.

Or Christina Paxson, president of Brown University, suggested the day Johannes Gutenberg finished his wooden printing press in 1440, which led to the democratizing of ideas.

I think the Totally Biased host W. Kamau Bell had to be joking with the suggestion that May 16, 1983, was the most significant day in history when Michael Jackson first performed the moonwalk on TV. "I think it’s one of the reasons we have a black president today," Bell observed.

A good case can be made for each of those suggestions. (Okay, maybe not that last one.) But the most significant day in history is missing from their list.

I know this is going to sound like a John Acuff "Jesus Juke" (look it up), but the resurrection of Christ gets my vote. It was God's victory over the ruin of sin and death, thus beginning the renewal of all things. "Is everything sad going to come untrue?" asked Sam Gamgee after finding Gandalf alive in The Lord of the Rings. The resurrection is God's resounding "Yes!"

This weekend is a time to "Remember and Rejoice." Join us at 7 p.m. on Good Friday for a communion service designed to remember the crucifixion. And then join us at 10 a.m. on Easter Sunday to rejoice in the new life of the resurrection!

You can help us on Sunday by doing the following: (1) bring a friend, (2) park off-site either on the road or on the elevated lot behind the Adult Wing, and (3) sit forward and to the left when you enter the building.

Join us in celebrating the most significant day in history!

 

Posted with Blogsy