So many Easter Messages

It’s been an interesting couple of days. I’ve been getting lots of messages about Easter. By “messages” I mean little bits of conversation, emails people send, things I hear on the radio. I believe that everything in life happens for a reason, and that would mean the little things like songs on the radio and so forth. One could easily argue that it’s a big holiday, so there’s naturally more going on. More people are talking about it, referencing it, etc..

Anyway, here are some of the things I’ve seen/heard:
– a local radio station doing a “What Would Jesus Play” theme (I’ve composed but not sent letters to the management and advertisers…)
– reading the Gnostic Gospels, a historical look at the books that DIDN’T make it into the canonized bible. Reading the chapter about the various early church practices and the history of Easter
– reading the actual Bible story of the crucifiction & resurrection
– driving by the Voice of Pentecost church/film production company, noticing their fleet of slick trucks and vans.
– doing a walkthrough of an open house near my Dad’s wherein the current owner had many unique images of Jesus inside
– overheard someone say: “Easter, Ester? The spirit of Ester coming out of the ground?” which I think had to do with early pagan traditions and the co-option of many holidays.
– finished reading the DaVinci code, and researching criticism on the web.
– looking for and not finding an hi-res copy of DaVinci’s Last Supper, which features prominently in the DaVinci code.
– walking to get ice cream with my roommate tonight and walking past an empty bar with “free pool”, so we went in and played a few games. On the wall? A picture of the Last Supper painting. (The book contends that the apostle to Jesus’ right in painting is actually Mary Magdeline, the apostle “Jesus loved more than the others”.) I wanted to see for myself, and I’ll be damned if that apostle doesn’t look like a lady. Well, maybe I shouldn’t put it like that. “I was suprised to find that the apostle next to Jesus could be seen as a female”

I guess in a way, I’ve been having my own version of Easter. Certainly have spent more time thinking about it in the last couple days than I have on other Easters.

The thing that I’m kinda left with is that it seems like a lot of contemporary Christianity is based on Jesus’ death. Given that Christians believe that to be the key to eternal life, I suppose it makes sense. But I also think that Jesus’ LIFE is more relevant to us. Certainly if one considers oneself a follower.

Lately, I’ve been wondering how so many Christians reconcile their support for the current war, given the nature of Jesus’ life and ministry and the call to follow his example. He was not a go-to-war kinda guy, as far as anything I’ve read…

I certainly don’t mean to accuse anyone of hypocrasy, (though I do feel the temptation welling up when I think about certain national political leaders) and I certainly am not discounting the fact that people genuinely do, in fact, wholly support what we’re doing.

I just can’t understand how this particular war stands for anything Jesus would support. If you’re reading this and would care to share, I’d be interested in hearing it. I’ll say though, that so far, with the exception of my own family, most of the communication I’ve gotten from those who support the war has been less than civil, and without question unkind. If you’re inclined to rail on me, keep it to yourself, please.

Otherwise, I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.