Last week the 2015 Easter Sunday Dialogue Part One ended with the following exchange between Jim and Val…
Jim: Val, I would like to share an alternative reading for everyone’s consideration and reflection as part of our 2015 Easter Sunday service. I believe this alternative reading can help us appreciate the metaphorical value of the traditional Easter story.
Val: I look forward to your alternative reading but first I think we should provide a little more of ‘the traditional’ Easter Sunday experience. Let us join together in singing the first two verses of a familiar Easter Hymn – Jesus Christ is Risen Today
Hymn: Jesus Christ Is Risen Today VU155 verse 1and 2
1 Jesus Christ is risen today, hallelujah!
our triumphant holy day, hallelujah!
who did once, upon the cross, hallelujah!
suffer to redeem our loss. Hallelujah!
2 Hymns of praise then let us sing hallelujah!
unto Christ, our heavenly King, hallelujah!
who endured the cross and grave, hallelujah!
sinners to redeem and save. Hallelujah!
Jim: Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Val, this ‘old favourite’ may well be heart-warming to sing at Easter, but the words have become extremely problematic for our 21st century context. I love this old familiar hymn tune as much as anybody, but something will have to be done about the lyrics if we are going to continue engaging this hymn tune in a modern world. Val, you and I both know that some of our best theologians today are suggesting we are going to kill Christianity if we can’t stop insisting on repeating (or singing) a message which presents Jesus as one sent to die on a cross to redeem us from ‘the sinful state into which we were born.’ Jesus did not endure the cross and the grave to redeem and save sinners. Val, we have been raising this point over and over again for a long time now. We know that Jesus ended up dead on a cross because he challenged unjust systems and preached a new way in which to live where people trusted in doing what was right, just and good. Val, we have heard many voices pleading for Christians to stop singing outdated words implying that Jesus ‘had to die to save sinners.’ We have been told that this outdated theology threatens to destroy the credibility of the Christian faith tradition and that often its driving people away from the church.
Val: Well Jim, as we in this congregation have discussed over and over, it is important that we believe what we sing. Can we keep the well-loved tune that goes with that Easter Hymn but find some new words, which maybe we can all agree with? Can we find some words which acknowledge the reality of crosses and graves, but which also provide real believable hope for the world?
Jim: Let’s try a couple of verses for this well-loved Easter Hymn offered by The United Church of Christ in the US. They can still be sung to that same familiar tune.
Hymn: Christ the Lord is Risen Today – words by Peace United a congregation of the United Church of Christ, USA http://progressivechristianity.org/resources/christ-the-lord-is-risen-today/
Rise all creatures praise to sing – Alleluia!
Tombs and tulips witness bring – Alleluia!
Seeds once dormant now arise – Alleluia!
Death has opened doors for life – Alleluia!
Soar we now where love has led – Alleluia!
Fol-l’wing our beloved friend – Alleluia!
One in Christ, our spirits rise – Alleluia!
Ours the cross the grave the skies – Alleluia!
Val: We have read the traditional Easter Stories from the New Testament (printed in last week’s blog) and we have acknowledged that they were written at different times for different audiences. We know it is so easy to get hung up on the details. Did it happen this way or that way? In last week’s blog you spoke about another reading which could help us think about the Easter story as a metaphor rather than a historical record. Do you still have that reading?
Jim: I do, and I was actually quite moved by it. It’s called Once Upon a Time and was written for an Easter Sunday Service back in 2013 by Richard Holdsworth. I found the reading at the following web address. http://progressivechristianity.org/resources/once-upon-a-time/
Val: Let’s read it.
Once upon a time, God was Good, and Good was born in each of us. Good took on human form to move across the face of the earth. As we let Good direct us, it taught us its wisdom; we realized its inspiration, treasured its compassion and deployed its power. We rejoiced in the ways of Good and gladly acclaimed its rule in our hearts. But we became afraid of where Good might lead us. We questioned that Good could sustain us. Our misgivings suspected its mission. Cynical thoughts, malicious feelings and greedy hearts doubted Good. We shunned Good and avoided its causes. We scorned its manifestations. We felt insecure, even fooled and we accused Good of making false promises. We came to despise and reject Good. We subdued it by force and arrested it. We put Good on trial, twisted the evidence and believed the crowd’s call to crucify, crucify! With the uncaring throng, we taunted, tortured and helped execute Good. We buried Good in darkness. We shrouded Good in desolate gloom and abandoned it. But its ways did not leave us. After a while we grieved for Good and went back to seek it. But when we entered the tomb, Good was not there. Good had already arisen from our slaughter.
Beyond belief and despite our limitations, resurrected Good brightens rousing realizations, increases social harmony, and activates greater visions. So exalt in any tongue, from any faith or none for Good is Risen! Happy Easter!
http://progressivechristianity.org/resources/once-upon-a-time/
Jim: That reading had a real impact on me when I first read it and I thank Richard Holdsworth for sharing it with the American Centre for Progressive Christianity. Val, do you believe that Good can change the world?
Val: Of course I believe that Good can change the world, but I also believe it will require a lot of people working together in order to usher in the Good. Entire communities must join hands and rise up with a commitment to doing Good in order for Good to change the world. One or two committed to the Good while others stand on the sidelines will not be sufficient.
Jim: We must also remember that doing Good is not always well received and it can exact a price from us as the story of Jesus so clearly reveals. Some people shy away from doing Good because of the cost. When the cost is high we need to work together so that we can support one another in the effort to do Good. United we can move forward but divided we may not accomplish all that much.
Val: Can you say more about what Good looks like?
Jim: Well, I could, but this is Easter Sunday. I think we should sing some new words for another old familiar tune. These new words, written David Stevenson, speak about how we do Good. David Stevenson’s new words can be sung to the old familiar tune of Eventide. (Abide With Me)
Hymn: Love One Another by David Stevenson http://progressivechristianity.org/resources/love-one-another/
- Love one another as I love you all;
In others’ needs hear my insistent call.
I bid you wear with me love’s seamless dress,
Welcome the outcast from the wilderness.
- I deem you worthy of my love for you,
Love then yourself, no less your neighbour too;
Yet, self-denying, know yourself set free,
Patient to bear the cross and follow me.
- Love knows no bound, condition nor regret;
In loving action I am ever met.
Not least, wish well for those who do you wrong;
Choose to forgive, discover love is strong.
- Faith, hope with love the greatest of the three:
These are the marks of all who dwell in me.
Accept my love, live in it and convey,
Finding in me the life, the truth, the way.
Jim: Doing Good takes many forms and the Easter story serves as a reminder that good can never come to an end or be completely destroyed . The alternative reading for Easter Sunday Once Upon a Time (written in 2013 by Richard Holdsworth) re-enforces that great reminder without any confusion over contradictory facts as experienced in the four New Testament Easter stories.
If you check the Central United Church blog next week you will encounter one more recollection of a valuable understanding of Easter as a metaphor. This understanding was inspired a few years ago by a visiting United Church of Canada minister from Canada’s West Coast.