[Uucf-bible] Easter for UU Xians?

[revronrobinson at aol.com]

Fantastic resource carol thanks
Ron



On Mar 4, 2010, at 8:54 AM, "Carol Stamatakis" <cheshirecat at nhvt.net>  
wrote:

>
> Hi Ron -
>
> I thought I would use this opportunity to share a collection of  
> postings
> from one of the UUCF lists from 2005, when the former minister of my
> church, who is not a Christian, was struggling to find meaning in  
> Easter.
> With her permission, I posted her dilemma, and many members of the  
> list
> responded. Some of the responses were quite inspirational, so I  
> saved and
> formatted them into a document and look for opportunities to share  
> them.
> The comments of Clint David were particularly moving to me.
>
> Ron - Maybe some edited version of this (and any other discussion it  
> might
> generate) could be published in Good News or on the web site. I cut  
> and
> pasted it below. If you or anyone else would like this document sent  
> as a
> word attachment, please contact me off-line.
>
> Carol
>
>
> A Non-Christian UU Minister's Dilemma over Easter
>
> A dialogue from The Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship  
> Listserv *
> March 2005
>
> From:           Carol Stamatakis <Cms78 at alumni.cwru.edu>
> Subject:        A non-Christian UU Minister's dilemma over Easter
> Date:       Wed, 23 Mar 2005 12:43:41 -0500
>
>
> I am posting below a recent column by the minister of my church  
> expressing
> her personal dilemma over Easter. I sought her permission to post it  
> on
> this list serve as I thought the responses might be helpful to her and
> perhaps to members of the list serve. Your responses could also  
> indirectly
> benefit people in our congregation.
>
> Sue is a sensitive and compassionate woman who has been very good  
> for our
> church. She has been supportive of my and others' efforts to offer
> programs of interest to UU Christians or those who wish to better
> understand
> Christianity.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Carol
>
>
> Rev. Sue Phillips
> Keene Unitarian Universalist Church
> Minister's Column
> March 2005
>
> Easter is right around the corner and I must admit that I want to take
> cover, to go away for a long vacation and return once it's over. I'm  
> mad
> at Easter because it is coming so early this year! I want it to be  
> later
> so I have more time to figure it out. I never know how to think about
> Easter, much less what to feel about it: all of my ambivalence about
> historical Christianity, all of my pent-up biblical-literary  
> criticism,
> all of my residual anger at the violent imagery of Christianity, comes
> rising up this time of year right along with the Son.
>
> Christmas is so much easier somehow, with its cuddly little baby,  
> all warm
> and snug and loved, lying in a manger, surrounded by friendly beasts,
> bathed in starlight. Christmas doesn't have to be metaphorical; it's a
> simple story of promise and hope. It doesn't seem to matter as much if
> that one particular event "really" happened, because miraculous births
> happen every day. I think I understand Christmas.
>
> But Easter! The crucifix. The empty tomb. The resurrection! It seems
> dishonest somehow to make of these events a metaphor. They are so  
> stark
> and concrete, and beg to be engaged as literal events. It seems to  
> me that
> Easter is the fulcrum of Christianity - either one believes in the  
> literal
> story of Easter or one doesn't. But questioning the story of Easter
> doesn't absolve nonbelievers of the responsibility to understand  
> what this
> paradigmatic holiday means to believers. This is part of why I want to
> push Easter away. I truly do want to respect the deeply held beliefs  
> of my
> brothers and sisters in faith. If I am to honor them, I need to  
> understand
> the centrality of Christ's resurrection. And yet Easter represents all
> that is hard for me about the faith of my birth and my culture.
>
> Yet it also feels dishonest to redeem the holiday with what my  
> colleague
> Mark Belletini calls "the purist idea that tries to reduce Easter to  
> some
> ancient ritual that's the real Easter, with 1962 years of complex  
> history
> of the day simply chopped off." I love chicks and bunnies as much as  
> the
> next person (especially if they are Sweet Tarts), but I have trouble
> passing Easter off as a spring festival of rebirth. It is that, of  
> course,
> but it is not only that.
>
> In the West, Easter is celebrated on the Sunday following the first  
> full
> moon after the vernal equinox. It's right around the corner, and it's
> coming whether we're ready or not! So perhaps you can help me  
> prepare. In
> the coming weeks, as the chocolate bunnies and pastel plastic eggs  
> start
> filling the aisles, perhaps you will engage the deeper questions of  
> the
> season: how might we honor Easter's complexity, its layers of  
> meaning? How
> can we do justice to both our well earned faithfulness and our well  
> earned
> suspicions?
>
> I hope you will share what you discover with me, and more  
> importantly with
> each other. In the mean time, I'll be the one buying those pink and  
> purple
> Sweet Tart chicks and bunnies. That's the only thing about Easter I  
> know
> for sure.
>
>
> From:         Penny Michaels <PRMichaels at CS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: A non-Christian UU Minister's dilemma over Easter
>
>
> In a message dated 3/23/05 11:44:23 AM Central Standard Time,
> Cms78 at alumni.cwru.edu writes:
>
> << That's the only thing about Easter I know for sure. >>
>
> She's way ahead of me, Carol. I no longer know anything for sure,  
> but that
> may be part of the aging process. :)
>
> I think Sue is making more of it than necessary. Easter, for me, is no
> different than Christmas--"a simple story of promise and hope."
> Resurrection happens every day. Without it, life would be completely
> intolerable. While the blood and gore associated with THE  
> crucifixion make
> it off-putting to many of us, I think the point is much larger than  
> the
> event of death itself. If I can accept a virgin birth as metaphor, I  
> have
> no problem at all with resurrection. The importance of the  
> crucifixion, to
> me, fades completely in the "promise and hope" of resurrection. It  
> is, as
> Martha would say, a good thing.
>
> Penny
>
>
> From:         Rudy Savich <Rsavich at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: A non-Christian UU Minister's dilemma over Easter
>
>
> Easter is the realization that Jesus lives.
> From:         Clinton Davis <wagnerian1 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: A non-Christian UU Minister's dilemma over Easter
> Date:         Wed, 23 Mar 2005 13:25:48 -0800
>
>
>     Friends,
>
>     I would imagine that Easter is difficult for those who have become
> hostile or ambivalent to Christianity.  But for me, from what I know,
> Easter is bigger than Christianity.  No matter what religious
> tradition I may find myself, I will always believe that Jesus lives,
> and because of that, I know that all of us will live too, regardless
> of whatever else might happen.  It is a religious truth than is
> simply too deep-seated to resist.  I don't dare speculate on how we
> might live on, but even the Easter story is so varied that we don't
> get much clarification.  It is as it should be.
>
>     However, that being said, I don't find Easter valuable unless Good
> Friday is observed as well.  For just as we shall all live on, we
> shall also die, and some of us very horribly indeed.  Good Friday
> gives us a chance to remember those who died unspeakable deaths for
> whatever reason.  It allows us to reconnect with our own personal
> tragedies as well, and not to flinch or turn away but look.  When
> Jews are burned in ovens, when gay people are tied to fenceposts to
> die, when black men are dragged behind trucks to their death, it's
> Good Friday all over again.  The earth shakes, the sky is darkened,
> and God dies.
>
>      But deep in the night, a flame is kindled.  The light spreads,  
> lives
> are touched, the earth rejoices.  What once was dead is alive again,
> and alive forevermore, and the gates of hell cannot contain it. The
> sun rises in the East, the tomb is empty.
>
>      This happens to all of us.  This is Easter.  It is no more
> complicated than that.  Jesus stands in for us, not to appease an
> angry God, but because through him we observe our own lives and the
> lives of those around us, and then we are enabled to put it all in
> perspective.
>
>       Do you then have to buy the rest of the Christian package?  Hell
> no.  You don't even have to be a Christian to see the mythic and
> religious truth of the Story.  You just have to be open enough to
> find truth wherever it is to be found, and this is definitely one
> place it is to be found.  There are many others, no doubt.   But
> right here, right now, in the next few days, this is it.  It's the
> exact time of year to look this one in the face and allow ourselves
> to be moved, as religious people regardless of our formal
> allegiances.
>
>       This is a precious religious practice, given to the whole  
> world for
> our use, struggling, and enjoyment.  Don't miss it.
>
>                       --Clint
>
>
>
>
> From:         Rachel Nguyen <rachelnguyen at COX.NET>
> Subject:      Re: A non-Christian UU Minister's dilemma over Easter
>
>
> Hi Carol,
>
> It is good that your minister doesn't dismiss Easter.  The fact that  
> it
> troubles her indicates a certain respect for it, which I, of course,  
> think
> it deserves.
>
> Recently, I was surfing the 'net for more information about Good  
> Friday
> observances, and came across and ecumenical discussion about it.   
> There
> was a post from a Pentecostal woman that said that the point of the  
> story
> is the rebirth... not the death.  For that reason, she doesn't observe
> Good Friday.
>
> I disagree for several reasons.
>
> Jesus told us to be willing to take up our crosses daily if we want to
> follow him.  Death, in the metaphorical, and certainly in the  
> spiritual
> sense, is a part of this path for me.  Jesus' death is not just a
> metaphor, though.  It was the physical acting out of the process.  He
> really did die on that cross.  I can't imagine not being willing to be
> with him in that dark hour.  He, who is with me at all times and in  
> all
> places, deserves my love and attention for a few hours in HIS time of
> suffering.  (I can't even write that without tears in my eyes.)
>
> I mentioned in another post that I believe that on the day of my  
> baptism I
> died and was reborn.  As I travel this Christian path, the line  
> between
> the two blurs.  But it is clear to me, a year and a half in, that  
> death is
> absolutely necessary in order to be reborn.  To me, the polarity of  
> Holy
> week is extremely important.  I can't imagine the yin without the  
> yang.  I
> can't imagine resurrection without the death and I can't imagine joy
> without suffering.
>
> My life today is made all the more sweet because I know what it was  
> like
> before.
>
> Love,
> Rachel
>
>
> From:         Rudy Savich <Rsavich at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: A non-Christian UU Minister's dilemma over Easter
>
>
> In a message dated 3/23/2005 4:26:22 PM US Eastern Standard Time,
> wagnerian1 at YAHOO.COM writes:
>
>> But deep in the night, a flame is kindled.  The
>> light spreads, lives are touched, the earth rejoices.
>> What once was dead is alive again, and alive
>> forevermore, and the gates of hell cannot contain it.
>>
>
> Oh Clint. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That is just so  
> beautifully put.
> I've got a lump in my throat the size of an Easter egg and tears are
> pouring down like a warm spring rain. Rudy
> From:         Rachel Nguyen <rachelnguyen at COX.NET>
> Subject:      Re: A non-Christian UU Minister's dilemma over Easter
>
> Dear Clint,
>
> Beautifully said, brother!
>
> Love,
> Rachel
>
> From:         Carter McNeese <carter.mcneese at COX.NET>
> Subject:      Re: A non-Christian UU Minister's dilemma over Easter
>
> I disagree with you here, Rachel.  It is the rebirth, the life, which
> gives the death meaning.  Otherwise Jesus would just be another first
> century Jewish radical that was killed by the Romans.  The fact that  
> he
> lives is what is important.
>
> The question then becomes how does he live?  This is the aspect that I
> have the hardest time with.  I simply can not accept that there was a
> bodily resurrection.  I know that might not jive with some, but if I  
> am
> completely honest with my self I personally know that it can not be  
> true.
> What I do know is that something happened that morning, something  
> that is
> inexplicable and that seriously changed the lives of everyone that was
> there.  Personally
> I think that whatever happened that one day, he at least continues  
> to live
> on in our thoughts, words and actions.  These in us are what  
> matters, just
> like they are what made him special in the first century.
>
> We could argue all day about all of this, but does it really do any  
> good?
> Probably in the fact that it helps us better understand our selves.   
> By
> the way, I as a theological Unitarian (and Universalist) do not  
> believe in
> the separate divinity of Jesus the man.  His divinity, if any (which I
> believe was there), came from his relationship with God, i.e. came  
> from
> without (or within, however you want to think of it) but not of his
> person.  (I hope that that makes sense, I am really tiered.)
>
> By the way, my favorite part of the Holy week story is the cleansing  
> of
> the temple.  What is every one else's?  Also, what is you favorite  
> movie
> about Holy Week/Easter?  For me it is a toss up between Jesus Christ
> Superstar and The Last Temptation of Christ.
>
> Just thought that I would throw some fluff questions out there for  
> some fun.
>
> Yours in Love,
>
> Carter McNeese
> Cell: (850) 499-8020
> Home: (850) 678-6470
>
> I have "sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility to every form of
> tyranny over the mind of man."
>
>                                              -Th. Jefferson
>
> If the plutocrats begin the program, we will end it.
>
>                                             -Eugene V. Debs
> From:         Samuel Schaal <SRSCHAAL at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: A non-Christian UU Minister's dilemma over Easter
>
>
> It seems to me that one reason some UUs (and others no doubt) have  
> trouble
> with Easter is the violence and darkness of all the pre-Easter stuff.
> Your minister in fact noted this.
>
> I seem to recall many years ago that Bruno Bettleheim (sp?) wrote an
> article in the Atlantic or Harper's about the violence of traditional
> children's literature (think Li'l Red Riding Hood pushing the wolf  
> in the
> oven, or was that another story?) and how some modern parents of  
> that era
> thought it was too violent. He said that such fairy tale violence  
> could be
> understood by kids and actually helped them later deal with the  
> violence
> and difficult nature of life.  That stuck with me, as I was then  
> engaged
> with raising young children.
>
> Now settled in a Christian church and now in my second season of
> Lent/Easter with them, I think that the violence of the Passion story
> tells a truth about life beyond the historical occurrence of Jesus.   
> That
> violence, and how that violence wasn't final, gives Christianity
> existential depth unlike (I think) any other religion.  Buddhists  
> wisely
> say that life is suffering and the goal of life is to alleviate  
> suffering.
> Christians agree, but go one step further.  They/we say that even  
> when we
> can't alleviate suffering, as is so often the case, there is a  
> benevolence
> at the very heart of life that ensures that suffering, though real,  
> is not
> final, and that life is of an eternal character.
>
> But so much of modern religion (UU especially, though other examples
> abound) is a nice, happy little religion which addresses the way we  
> wish
> things were, not the way things are.  Life is suffering.  But at the  
> heart
> of suffering is eternal life, a goodness that is intimately with us
> (closer than breathing, nearer than hands and feet) and -- most
> importantly -- knows us and loves us and demands very little,  
> actually,
> except love in return.
>
> Blessings of the season to all,
>
> Sam Schaal
>
>
>
> From:         Dede Mitchell <dedequeens at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: A non-Christian UU Minister's dilemma over Easter
>
>
> Clinton,
>
> This is beautiful and moving, especially the part about Good  
> Friday.  I
> shared it with the minister at a UCC church I've been attending and he
> would like to read it at the Good Friday service.  Is that okay with  
> you?
>
> Blessings,
> Dede
>
>
>
>
> From:         Clinton Davis <wagnerian1 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: A non-Christian UU Minister's dilemma over Easter
>
>
>     Dede,
>
>     Sure, go ahead.  Tell me how it goes!
>
>                   --Clint
>
>
> From:       Dede Mitchell <dedequeens at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:    Re: A non-Christian UU Minister's dilemma over Easter
> Date:       Thu, 24