Today is Easter Sunday, and I went to church this morning. I am not a very familiar face in any church, which put me today in fine company with millions of Americans who go to church today to celebrate the death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus, then mostly sleep in on Sundays until it's time to celebrate his birth in December. My visit, however, was largely diplomatic in nature. It was also the first church service I've attended in five years (weddings aside). It's amazing what people will do when they're in love.
Anyway, instead of paying attention to the service (or is it a mass? The Episcopal service is nearly identical to the Catholic masses I endured as a child, does it get the same name?), I was pondering why a person like myself, a fairly committed atheist, has no problem celebrating Christmas, but is annoyed by or would rather just ignore Easter altogether.
The answer I came up with was this: to celebrate Christmas, if you even choose to acknowledge it as a religious holiday at all (what with Santa Claus and all that crap), is a tacit admittal that Jesus existed, and that his birth is worth celebrating in some facet. You don't have to worship him as the son of God. I can just think of it as the birth of a good man who preached kindness and tolerance, and stood up for the poor and oppressed. Easter is a little different, an acknowledgement that Jesus was resurrected from the dead and ascended into heaven to absolve the sins of all mankind. A little more serious from a theological point of view, you know?
That was the serious and thoughtful version of my Easter post. The original version was this:
Easter is all about how Jesus was betrayed by his best friend, given over to the local fascist government, brutally tortured, and executed. And also cute little bunny rabbits and pastel-colored eggs and candy, candy, candy!
1 comment:
I like both versions of the post. And I agree completely on both counts.
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