wonders and reflections in God's presence

I love eggs! Not so much to eat them … although, when I’m in the mood, they’re great. I love their shape and their image and their symbolism. I love the fact that they are both extremely strong and delicately fragile simultaneously. Everyone of them is egg-shaped, but each is uniquely different. I know this because I have spent years decorating eggs Ukrainian style for Easter. Yesterday I got out all the supplies and decorated eggs from 10 am ’til 10 pm straight. I only took breaks to eat a sandwich or a piece of cheesecake. I had sent out an email to some women friends announcing that I would be doing eggs on Friday and inviting them to stop in and either watch or try one or two themselves. I was very happy that five people stopped by. Saundra, Chalisa, Sarah, Rahel, Katie,DeeDee and Tanya all gave it a try. And in that time, I decorated a whole five eggs of my own. Four of them are in the picture above.

Chalisa, an AFS student from Thailand, asked me, “There is just one thing no one can explain to me; why do you have eggs for Easter?” Chalisa is going to miss Easter with the Dickens because she and another Thai friend are going to the Thai temple (Buddhist) on Sunday for the Thai new year celebration. She really doesn’t know about Christian holidays and didn’t understand the egg and bunny at all. How does that relate to the Christian story?

You know … it’s just like the Christmas tree … remember? These are NOT Christian symbols at all. They are ancient pagan symbols. In Eastern Europe, for example, in the centuries before Christianity arrived, the people worshipped the sun and nature. Spring was a natural fertility holiday to the gods. It was a time of celebration in that the days were getting longer, the trees and flowers would be blooming soon, and it was a season of … you got it, fertility! The egg symbolized fertility and good luck throughout the year. When the countries were Christianized the adopted the ancient pagan rituals of decorating and giving eggs and added some Christian symbols in the decoration. Some have said, well, the egg is still a symbol of new life and the shell reminds us of the grave Jesus rose out of. I think that’s a bit far-fetched myself. The egg is really a very feminine image of life and prosperity. That’s another reason I like them so much. We, Christians, just adopted the secular/pagan cultural ritual and called them “Easter Eggs”. I love understaning the relationship between faith, ritual, and culture … this is yet another reason I love these eggs so much.

Easter, of course, is the holiest day of the Christian calendar. You wouldn’t know it though by our culture. We tend to put a lot more money and tradition into Christmas than Easter. But, really, Easter is what Christianity is all about. The promise of life out of death; the resurrection-hope that God’s way is always far better than what we can perceive at the moment.

When I decorate the eggs .. I think and pray about those things … I re-dedicate my life with each egg … wow! God is good! And I love participating in that goodness.

Happy Easter Everyone!

(from my xanga)

It’s not that I don’t like Christmas. I love Christmas! Even the secular stuff … my favorite is seeing the lights on the houses … I remember getting bundled up in my pajamas as a kid, packing into the car with a jug of hot chocolate … and we’d go out for the evening looking at the lights on the houses. Please don’t hear me as a “bah humbug” sort of person. I like singing Christmas carols the day after Thanksgiving.

But I want to raise awareness about the fact that most of what we do around Christmas is NOT really related to the birth of Christ … it’s a cultural celebration of goodness and mystery (at its best) and consumerism (at its worst).

I feel the same way about most of the religious/political controversies these days. They are more cultural issues than Christ issues. A few years ago the paper called to ask me my opinion on prayer at football games … they were surprised by my answer and didn’t publish much of what I said (they already had the story written and were just looking for quotes that fit their thesis). I am not in favor of it … partly because I don’t care for football (sorry, I’ll never be a real Texan) … but, really, it’s because I think prayer is being used for the wrong reasons in that context. It often comes down to “pray so God is on our side”. And it seems trivialized to me. Do we really mean, Christ enter into our playing so that all players treat each other with compassion and kindness, generosity and sacrifice … of course not. How is the prayer at football games really Christian? It’s the same with prayer in school, the Bible or ten commandments at the courthouse. We’re fighting the wrong battle. These things are merely facades which keep us thinking we are a Christian nation. And that’s why they are such hot political issues. As long as we keep thinking we’re a Christian nation, the church loses its prophetic voice in society.

This is why it is so vitally important that we continue to fight for the separation of church and state; that we fight for all marginalized voices to be given the right to be heard and respected. Christ speaks through those marginalized voices.

This was all written in response to Anne’s post … canceling worship on Christmas Day because it happens to fall on a Sunday … that is the epitome of the Church acclimating to culture and giving up its power and influence on one of the most holy days of the Christian calendar.

Yesterday at jury duty a young woman, after find out that I was a pastor, asked what I thought of all the “holiday” vs. “christmas” stuff. If I thought that a Christmas tree was really a Christian symbol I might be more upset about it being called a “holiday” tree. Most of what we call Christmas these days is more a celebration of the secular consumer holiday. And much of what we call Christian tradition was an acclamation of the older pagan holiday rituals surrounding the winter solstice. Consider this from the Encyclopedia Britannica Online:

“One of the best-known festivals of ancient Rome was the Saturnalia, a winter festival celebrated on December 17–24. Because it was a time of wild merrymaking and domestic celebrations, businesses, schools, and law courts were closed so that the public could feast, dance, gamble, and generally enjoy itself to the fullest. December 25—the birthday of Mithra, the Iranian god of light, and a day devoted to the invincible sun, as well as the day after the Saturnalia—was adopted by the church as Christmas, the nativity of Christ, to counteract the effects of these festivals.”

My opinion is that most of what American culture portrays as Christmas is much more like Saturnalia than it is a real “Christian” holy day. The Christian Christmas, for instance, doesn’t really begin until December 25th. Then the celebration continues for 12 days until Epiphany with the coming of the wise men. The four weeks before Christmas are a time of fasting and prayer, devotion, confession, and service, not parties, lights, cards, and cookies. When we celebrate the Christmas season beginning on the day after Thanksgiving … we are celebrating a secular holiday. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if we call it a Christmas tree or a Holiday tree. What really matters is whether we are living and celebrating the Coming of Christ in our lives and into the world.

Thanks for putting up with my Sermon for the day.