Giving Up Church For Lent

     Page Two Hundred Twenty.
     I recently ran into a friend who gave up church for Lent. I'm not kidding. I truly thought she was joking when she told me, but she wasn't. She said that it really hurt her too. She felt terribly deprived by not being able to worship freely and in a manner with which she felt comfortable. After hearing her speak for a moment, I realized her point.

     Can you imagine not being able to worship God in the manner to which you are accustomed or to be ostracized for it? We all know that this has happened countless times over the centuries and in various societies. Also, of course, it still is happening. In the news recently I heard a story about Christians who are harassed in certain Asian countries for praying as they do; Jews have a long history of receiving intolerance and Moslems in Western countries have been the recipients of definite  prejudices since 9.11. And this isn't even to mention the Atheists or Humanists who are force-fed God and organized religion period by extremely ignorant friends or associates. We just can't let people pray, or not, as they see fit, in peace. The more I think about it, the more I respect my friend's decision to give up church for Lent. It really is a sacrifice for her.
     How many people would go to another religion's house of worship for 6 weeks, to the exclusion of their own religion, just to gain a sense of gratitude for their own freedom of worship? Not very many, though they 'd be much less prejudiced afterwards.

What To Give Up For Lent

     Page Two Hundred-Nine.
     I'm sometimes surprised by people's lack of knowledge concerning world religions, or their own religion even. A while ago, I found myself trying to educate a friend on the fact that Jews don't give up anything for Lent. He simply wouldn't hear my explanation. He just "knew" that Lent is an American secular season which is practiced by anybody who wants to express their appreciation to Jesus for dying on that cross 2000 years ago. He recognized it's origins in religion, Christianity specifically, but was convinced that nowadays religion had nothing to do with it. I was stunned by his ignorance.
      Along similar lines, quite recently I found myself talking with a devout Protestant about Martin Luther. I was explaining to her that prior to 500 year ago, there was no such thing as Catholicism or Protestantism. Every Christian was what we would refer to today as Catholic. Then this priest, Martin Luther, came along and virtually invented the Protestant movement. Her response? "I'm going to ask my minister about this. He knows so much about church history, he's just so smart." I thought to myself, "Why didn't this woman learn about the Reformation in 7th grade world history?"
     One day, a few years back, an acquaintance couldn't understand how Jews could believe in God if they didn't simultaneously believe in Jesus. "You see, Jesus is God, so if they don't believe in Jesus then they don't believe in God." Maybe I simply know really uneducated people. Perhaps that's it.
     I believe that if comparative religion were required learning, world-wide, we'd have much less war.

On Decorating For Rosh Hashanah

     Page One Hundred Twenty-Two.
     Right now I'm sitting at my dining room table, writing this blog. Besides my computer, the other things on the table are many decorations for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which is in a few weeks. The reason they're here is because I'll be using them in a couple days to decorate one window at the beauty salon which I manage. Decorating a window for Rosh Hashanah is mostly no big deal. But if you remember from a couple blogs ago (page #119) the salon is almost exclusively African-American. However, here's the thing: my boss, Alma, knew what she was getting herself into when she asked me to be the manager. She knew that my world view is a bit odd, overly embracing and quite rebellious.
     Last spring I decorated one window for the Jewish holiday of Purim and I decorated another one for St. Patrick's Day. Of all things, I didn't do one for Easter because one of our two windows was broken at the time and the other window was set with something that Alma and I both liked, though I don't now remember what it was. (Also, that was the week that I was hosting the Passover Seder at the church, and was cooking for 260 people. So, I took the entire week off from the salon anyhow.) Alma, the beauty salon and I are all in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, an unusually ecumenical and integrated community. If I can't get away with decorating a black beauty salon for all the Jewish holidays in this city, I can't do it anywhere. And I want to.
     It doesn't go unnoticed either. Last spring while the windows had their St. Pat's theme, some drunken bar hopping patrons who were staggering by, were overheard to say "why do those ni****s have their salon decorated for St. Patrick's Day?" (The salon is on a street heavily occupied by popular restaurants and bars.) But also, earlier this summer, I received word that my windows had been nominated for the best decorated windows in Cleveland Heights. So there you go.
     Actually the salon clients love it. Alma is a devout Christian as are many of her clients. They love the fact that I embrace and then talk about my Jewishness because Jesus was Jewish. So they're fascinated by our holidays. As far as I'm concerned, anything which keeps my creativity popping is good. And doing those windows for various holidays, Jewish and otherwise, definitely pops my creativity.

A Community Passover Seder At A Church?

     Page Fifty-Five.
     I'm getting this blog up late. Please forgive me, I've been tired lately. A couple of nights ago I had 260 people for dinner and it wore me out, but I'm feeling better now, so here we go. I'm sure that whenever you have 260 people for dinner it tires you a touch. How do you handle it? I'll take suggestions. The fact is, I got in over my head a bit.
     I'm very friendly with the senior minister of one of our very large churches here in Cleveland Heights, Church of the Saviour. This church is United Methodist and it's a very grand, beautiful, 1920's, French Gothic cathedral. They added an addition in 2007, so it really is massive now. It's a large, thriving congregation with five different services every Sunday. Probably a couple thousand people are members as 500-600 show up regularly each Sunday.
     About ten years ago I began conducting "community Passover Seders" at a church on Cleveland's West Side and I did that for three years in a row. My Seders were instructional and with all the food. (The "Seder" is the ceremonial dinner and formal retelling of the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt. The Seder takes place on the first two nights of Passover.) So in essence, my community Seders were a complete meal with a "Passover 101" lecture before, during and after eating. They were well received but not large. The first one was maybe 70 people with each of the following two under 50. I've been in the mood to do a Seder again during the last couple of years and the timing must've been right 'cause I approached my friend, Church of the Saviour's senior minister, a few months ago about doing one at his place and he was all for it.
     I just wasn't expecting 260 people to show up. Thankfully, the church has many wonderful volunteers and they even got a volunteer coordinator to oversee everything. There are also two fantastic kitchens, each one worthy of being in a white tablecloth restaurant. But everyday the office manager told me that the RSVP list had grown exponentially overnight. It was crazy. So there I am, trying to write a Haggadah (the booklet with the story of Passover) so that it's accessible to Christians, while planning an elaborate meal, while planning my oral presentation.
     It goes without saying that the reason Christians want to attend a Seder is that it was Jesus' last meal, but there, I said it anyhow. That link is a very valuable and vital association between the two religions; it's a relationship which cannot be overstated. Also, everybody has seen Charlton Heston and The Ten Commandments so everybody is sort of familiar with the story. Subsequently, many Christians want to experience a Passover Seder in real life. I'm glad to do it. The more people know about different religions, cultures and races, the more people are exposed to others who think or act differently, then the less people will exhibit bigotry, fear and hatred. This isn't rocket science.
     So... anyhow, I've been tired the last few days. But I am slowly feeling stronger. But, I think that the next time I have 260 people for dinner I'm going to get McDonald's.