the sausage-making process involved in planning an Easter service<\/a> at a stereotypical UU church that I can\u2019t ignore. <\/p>\nGo read it\u2026 or maybe not \u2013 you probably know how it turns out, maybe from first-hand experience: \u201cthey planned a nice mash-up of Passover, Easter, flowers, love, diversity, and new life.\u201d I\u2019ve been in services like that \u2013 I find them wholly unsatisfying. <\/p>\n
If I\u2019m leading a Sunday Service on the Spring Equinox (which I\u2019ve done twice), I\u2019m going to talk about planting and rebirth and the story of the Goddess Ostara and the egg-laying bunny (which has NO basis in ancient mythology, but is still a pretty good story). I\u2019m not going to mention Easter at all, except maybe for the Ostara \u2013 Easter name connection. Why should I (or any other UU) expect a different approach for Easter?<\/p>\n
Yes, I was hurt by a fundamentalist Christian upbringing. Yes, I\u2019m still disturbed by some Christians\u2019 emphasis on the bloody horrors of \u201cGood\u201d Friday. No, I don\u2019t believe in a bodily resurrection of Jesus or anyone else.<\/p>\n
But I\u2019m done with defining myself by what I\u2019m not. There is meaning and value in the Easter story, just as there\u2019s meaning and value in the Christmas story and the Passover story and the story of the Buddha\u2019s birth and the story of Persephone and Hades (and Demeter) and countless other stories. I can find that meaning a lot better in a rational but straightforward service \/ sermon on Easter than I can in any \u201cmash-up,\u201d nice or otherwise.<\/p>\n
There is still value in the teachings of Jesus and in the stories and ideals of Christianity. They belong to Unitarian Universalists as much as they belong to the Baptists or Catholics. Don\u2019t be afraid to claim them.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re going to do Easter, then do Easter!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My recent blogging has been almost exclusively Pagan, but UU World has a story about the sausage-making process involved in planning an Easter service at a stereotypical UU church that I can\u2019t ignore. Go read it\u2026 or maybe not \u2013 you probably know how it turns out, maybe from first-hand experience: \u201cthey planned a nice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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