good friday
Why is it that Mormons never paid attention to Good Friday, Palm Sunday, and all that? (I have to say "all that" because I don't even know what else there is, being raised Mormon.) Seriously, why did our family only pay attention to Easter Sunday and nothing else? And then lament the emphasis on the Easter bunny and the candy? If they really wanted it to be more Jesus-centered ("Christ-centered" as Mormons would say), couldn't they have focused more on the whole ministry of Jesus, the leading up to the death, and then the resurrection?
Was the de-emphasis on the cross and the crucifixion just a way to get away from Catholicism? Growing up, I got the feeling that Mormons were smugly proud of the fact that they emphasized the resurrection of Jesus, not his death. We don't have crosses as symbols, we know the important part is the resurrection. And Gethsemane. Other Christians teach about the whole process from coming into Jerusalem to being tried and tortured, the crucifixion, then the resurrection. But that's not the story I got growing up. The story I got skipped from sweating blood in Gethsemane to the resurrection. Oh, and some stuff in between.
My first Easter season as a mostly-non-believer found me still a believer in Jesus. I think we attended an Episcopal church that day. If you believe in it, chanting "Christ is born, Christ is risen, Christ will come again" is rather comforting, really. In fact, that church service was rather emotional for me. I wasn't sure I believed in Mormonism, so it was refreshing to have a service that didn't have all those strange Mormon teachings and hang-ups, but still had Jesus. Even if you don't believe in the literal resurrection and the Jesus-is-God thing, I can see how the story would still provide comfort in coping with death. (Though it doesn't for me.)
Easter, then, for us, has become about egg-dying and Easter egg hunts. I try to throw is some pagan-ish "See how wonderful the world is in spring! Everything is coming to life, and giving us life! Hooray for the sun!" But really, my son only cares about the Easter egg hunt. He has already decided the Easter bunny "is really just you, Mom!" (he was a skeptic from the tender age of 3) but he still likes the surprise and the hunt anyway. Which is way better than stories about sweating blood in agonizing pain because of some "sin" I committed.
8 comments:
FTA - Great post. I always felt that Mormonism jipped Jesus when it came to Easter. Easter is monumental as a Christian. It's really the whole point. It's no wonder that many Christians don't think Mormons are Christians. They don't really worship Jesus at all at the risk of pissing off God, Jesus gets screwed by Smithmas when his birth should be celebrated and then Easter rolls around and much of the Atonement and his sacrifice for his believers gets cut out. For all the guilt trips to be had in Mormonism, it's peculiar that they don't tap into the bloody and broker christ on the cross. Maybe that would focus to much attention on him instead of modern day revelation.
Mormonism really screws religion up for everyone that leaves. I find myself willing and ready to exert faith in christ but somehow unable.
Simeon- I have a friend who still regards himself a Christian, though he doesn't believe in any of the literal stuff at all. He thinks of Jesus as an archetype, and appreciates the ideas of the "fall of man" (that we are all imperfect and need help to be better), redemption, forgiveness, etc. Any chance that would work for you?
I personally don't connect with the fall of man/need for redemption paradigm. Different people have different ways of looking at life.
The Mormon church is not set up to glorify Jesus, it is set up to glorify the Mormon church. That's why they have real celebrations for Pioneer Day, Joseph Smith's birthday, Gordon Hinckley's birthday, tabernacle re-dedications, mall dedications, etc. They'd probably have one for the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood, too, if they only knew when it was... *snicker*
snick is right. But isn't the priesthood restoration celebrated in spring? I remember "celebrating" the restoration on MOTHER'S DAY!
Let's honor all the mothers by talking about the priesthood. WTF?
Kind of like how "Oh My Father" is a Mother's Day hymn. I love it.
abner- I guess it is the only song that actually mentions Heavenly Mother, right? That was where the idea of HM came from, wasn't it? Good ol' Eliza.
Too bad she was sleeping with her best friend's husband.
Hmmmm.....
This makes me kinda mad.
Considering I am a mormon I don't agree with some of your steriotypes. Im getting tired of "mormons are poligamists" "mormons are odd" "they aren't real christians" It also pisses me off to hear that we dont worshop jesus. We include jesus in our prayers. It's even in our name. And how long have you been out of the church. Its not like this in our church. we do not celebrate the "holidays" that you describe. The only "holiday" we have like that is the death of joseph smith, in which case we mourn him.
And yes. my church does celebrate all three days of the easter holiday.
One POed mormon,
Devin
devin- Did you really just try to argue that Mormons are just as Christian as anyone else, then say you have JS's death as a holiday?
I guess your experience in the church was a bit different than mine. Not surprising at all. But how is my experience in the church, and my telling of it, giving into those stereotypes--none of which I stated myself, btw?
But you also contradicted yourself, saying you do not celebrate Good Friday, etc, and then that you did. Hmm, which is it?
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