Easter Cometh
The web site is still down, but I'm hoping to have most of it back up by Monday. I didn't really do much on it today and probably won't Sunday either as I observe Good Friday and Easter. This might be odd since I don't as a general rule attend Church services, but it's the most holy holiday on the Christian calendar and I think observing it despite my non-attendance at religious services is no stranger than celebrating the death and resurrection of the Christian Messiah by painting eggs, eating chocolate and worshipping a giant bunny rabbit.
Of course some Christians take more offence to the whole Easter Bunny thing than others and The Glassport Assembly of God in Glassport, PA seems to have taken the anti-Easter Bunny crusade to a whole new level this year. Apparently inspired by The Passion of the Christ they recently staged a little pageant you might call The Passion of the Bunny.
Somebody better warn Santa not to show up in Glassport this Christmas.
Now I've heard the whole song and dance about eggs and bunnies being symbols of fertility and new life and blah, blah, blah but why not just call a spade a spade and just admit we only adopted a bunch of these customs to convince a few pagans to switch religions and to help Laura Secord sell a little more chocolate every Spring?
And speaking of switching religions...though brothers, myself and most of my family were all raised in the United Church of Canada (an amalgamation of Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Union churches and Canada's largest Protestant denomination). Few of us are still members today and this weekend my brother Brian becomes the latest to officially switch teams this weekend when he's confirmed as a Catholic so he's able to get married by the church in June.
I've retained a strong interest in theology and I'm fascinated by different aspects of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Shinto (Japan's dominate religion). Like many people I'm also thoroughly disgusted with the way religion seems to be constantly invoked and corrupted for economic and political purposes and I may deal with some of that - in a non-preachy way - in an episode of Bear Town at some point.
Though it's not specifically about Easter, I thought that today's Morning Improv made a great, Zen-like comment on Christianity that's completely in line with my way of thinking. Someone on the Morning Improv board summed it up best:
"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than
standing in a barn makes you a tractor."
As I said I don't attend services very often anymore, but I do occasionally volunteer to teach puppetry workshops for a few friends who are active in Christian puppetry. I must admit that I was ignorant of the whole Christian puppetry phenomenon (traditionally based in the southern U.S. "Bible Belt") until about five years ago when a Ministry in South Africa licensed a show I had written based on Aesop. I was curious, did a little research and was quickly amazed by the huge number of Christian Puppeteers out there.
Few people realize that Christian Puppetry is a tradition that goes back almost 1,000 years. The word marionette - which means specifically a string puppet in English but is a general term for all types of puppets in French - literally means "little Marys" and originated during the Dark Ages when the church would use puppets to stage passion plays and teach biblical lessons to the largely illiterate masses.
Of course some Christians take more offence to the whole Easter Bunny thing than others and The Glassport Assembly of God in Glassport, PA seems to have taken the anti-Easter Bunny crusade to a whole new level this year. Apparently inspired by The Passion of the Christ they recently staged a little pageant you might call The Passion of the Bunny.
Somebody better warn Santa not to show up in Glassport this Christmas.
Now I've heard the whole song and dance about eggs and bunnies being symbols of fertility and new life and blah, blah, blah but why not just call a spade a spade and just admit we only adopted a bunch of these customs to convince a few pagans to switch religions and to help Laura Secord sell a little more chocolate every Spring?
And speaking of switching religions...though brothers, myself and most of my family were all raised in the United Church of Canada (an amalgamation of Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Union churches and Canada's largest Protestant denomination). Few of us are still members today and this weekend my brother Brian becomes the latest to officially switch teams this weekend when he's confirmed as a Catholic so he's able to get married by the church in June.
I've retained a strong interest in theology and I'm fascinated by different aspects of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Shinto (Japan's dominate religion). Like many people I'm also thoroughly disgusted with the way religion seems to be constantly invoked and corrupted for economic and political purposes and I may deal with some of that - in a non-preachy way - in an episode of Bear Town at some point.
Though it's not specifically about Easter, I thought that today's Morning Improv made a great, Zen-like comment on Christianity that's completely in line with my way of thinking. Someone on the Morning Improv board summed it up best:
standing in a barn makes you a tractor."
As I said I don't attend services very often anymore, but I do occasionally volunteer to teach puppetry workshops for a few friends who are active in Christian puppetry. I must admit that I was ignorant of the whole Christian puppetry phenomenon (traditionally based in the southern U.S. "Bible Belt") until about five years ago when a Ministry in South Africa licensed a show I had written based on Aesop. I was curious, did a little research and was quickly amazed by the huge number of Christian Puppeteers out there.
Few people realize that Christian Puppetry is a tradition that goes back almost 1,000 years. The word marionette - which means specifically a string puppet in English but is a general term for all types of puppets in French - literally means "little Marys" and originated during the Dark Ages when the church would use puppets to stage passion plays and teach biblical lessons to the largely illiterate masses.
Posted by Andrew at 5:14 AM | Permalink
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