April 2009

The Easter Exam

BY GREG WARD, MINISTER, UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF THE MONTEREY PENINSULA, CALIFORNIA

The test for becoming a UU minister is long and arduous. Through time, the denomination has developed a reasonably responsible process for admittance into the ministry that includes education, hands-on training and opportunities to demonstrate competence in history, theology, counseling, facilitation, team building—all that minister stuff. It’s a difficult process with a lot of hoop-jumping. And I’m not saying that the process is overly convoluted or needs paring down. But recently I thought of a way to greatly simplify the requirements. A sure-fire way to tell if our would-be ministers really have what it takes to cut the mustard in diverse religious communities like ours.

My idea is this: put all of our aspiring ministers in one room. Give them each a desk with a single sheet of paper turned face down. Hand them a pencil, tell them this is the only test they will be given to enter UU ministry. Then tell them they have as much time as they need. Ring a bell, have them turn over their papers and begin writing. And then watch their reaction as they read the lone test question at the top of the page: two words, in bold type: “Explain Easter.” And then, in italicized parentheses underneath (…so that your UU congregation will understand).

From there on, it is simply a matter of weeding out those applicants who run screaming from the room. Anyone who can condense centuries of religious writing, church and cultural tradition, contradictory interpretations—they’re in.

I’m not being serious, of course. And, I suppose, it is a good thing I’m not. For surely I would have failed that test. And I would not have been alone. I know that I, along with many of my colleagues, have sometimes managed to pass such a test only on technicalities and by skillful equivocation.

Perhaps you too have paid close attention to the interesting rituals of this holiday. And you, too, have found them confusing. Perhaps you too have wondered at the mixed messages that come when dressing up little boys and girls in fancy clothes to look for eggs hidden in bushes. Wondered about the juxtaposition of singing Hallelujah and Gloria to commemorate the brutal trials of a man condemned to death. Perhaps you too have heard stories about the fertility of eggs and the finality of an empty tomb. Wondered about the difference between re-creation and resurrection. Perhaps wondered why none of us have ever seen—in the same place, at the same time—the figures of Jesus and the Easter Bunny.

The many forces which have carried the Easter message over the years have laid down so many separate sets of tracks that it feels like we are asked to follow a whole den of foxes, purposely walking in circles to throw us off the track. It is hard to imagine that all of these diverse and eclectic explanations are trying to relate to the same holiday.

Sometimes I, too, continue to struggle with the Easter Exam. Should I say it is a holiday which saves us from our sins or that promises fertility? Or both? I think we do need to answer these questions for our times and wrestle the right to answer away from two of the best marketing agencies the world has ever known: the Hallmark industry and organized religion.

I was struck dumb the other day when I came across a couple of articles written in The Village Voice. One was entitled “Bunny Busters” and was about the Easter Bunny getting hand-cuffed and arrested by New York City cops. More specifically, it was about Amy Hamilton-Thibert, mother from Queens, who came to protest the sale of Easter baskets at the “Big K” Kmart. “Why?” you might ask. Thibert was arrested for standing in front of a display of Easter baskets while holding up a sign that read, “Someone’s in my Easter basket—and it’s G.I. Joe!” It turns out that the traditional chocolate bunny in said basket had been replaced by toys including plastic soldiers armed with machine guns, rifles, grenades, and knives. Thibert was also caught red-handed distributing plastic eggs to children with a printed explanation of her protest inside reading, “Don't you think it’s strange to have guns and soldiers in an Easter Basket?”

The follow-up article, entitled, “Full Metal Bonnet,” reported that retailers went on the defensive, saying, in the words of Kmart spokesperson Abigail Jacobs: “It’s, in my opinion, a harmless toy included in an Easter basket.”

But that was not the opinion of Episcopalian bishop George Packard who oversees the spiritual care for the armed forces. Nor was it the opinion of many other military or religious leaders. As Packard was quoted as saying, “Easter baskets have been deteriorating for a long time, but they've really gone over the edge…. I am so confounded by this bad taste.”

One of the things so hard for Unitarian Universalists to understand is why violence has been incessantly and insistently inserted throughout our history into the big basket called “Easter.” The belief is still prevalent that atonement with God is only possible for those who believe that Jesus died for us, that his crucifixion and suffering were necessary and ordained, and that he suffered compliantly. And further, that his life is a testament that our own willingness to accept suffering makes us virtuous like him.

Unitarian Universalists have stood against this bad theology for centuries because it hurts people and because it condones violence as a means of God’s love. If we are to take ourselves seriously as religious reformers, as people who stand up to religion when it becomes a coercive and divisive force, we need to be able to offer a better understanding of Easter. We need to be able to explain Easter in terms of love. We need to pass the Easter Exam of our times.

So here it is, this is your Easter Exam. Ready? Pencils up. Here’s your question: While waiting in the hospital for a friend to return from tests, you see an elderly man waiting in the corridor alone. He is crying. You go to him. You introduce yourself, sit, and listen to his story. He tells you he has AIDS. He tells you his tale, which is about betrayal, judgment, abandonment, rejection, isolation, loneliness, fear and despair. He finishes and looks down and begins to cry again. You reach for a tissue and hand it to him. You let him cry for a few minutes and put your hand on his shoulder. After a while he stops. Then, he raises his head, looks into your face and asks you in a soft voice, “Does God love me?”

What do you say? This is your Easter Exam. If Unitarian Universalism states that all life has inherent worth, how do you respond? If we believe that atonement is found by love rather than violence, what is your answer? If we believe that God—or the power of love—is real in this world and comes without ransom, that Easter is more than eggs in a basket but a way to help the suffering find a way back to hope, how will you pass this test?

The answer is you already passed this test when you saw him crying and you went over to him. You already understood Easter when you handed him a tissue and sat with him while he cried. You already became a minister of your faith and an answer to the Easter conundrum by being present for his suffering without being consumed by it. For in this you showed that love can live through hate; that hope will not be consumed by fear; and the world will not turn away from the brokenness of its people.

But if you feel compelled to say something more, remember in your response that it doesn’t matter whether or not you, yourself, believe in God; whether or not you believe in the sacrifice; whether or not you believe in the resurrection. The power of the Easter message is larger than the small minds who have carried this conundrum forward. The power of the message is a faith in love as the salvific power of all life.

You say, “Yes! If what you mean by ‘God’s love’ is to know you are not alone, then yes. If what you mean is to know that there are people who will understand, who will care about you, listen to you, then yes. If what you mean is to know that the love you seek is stronger than the fear and betrayal you have been shown, then yes. If what you mean is that this kind of love exists the world over and you are part of it, then yes.”

This is the Easter Exam that needs passing—that needs passing on. For we live in a world with even more violence and betrayal and abandonment than was part of the original Easter scenario two thousand years ago. If the Easter message is to have any meaning it requires us to pass this test—not just every April, but every day.

When all is said and done, Easter is us. Living in a hard and hurting world. Showing that love is possible. Over and over again.