Esther 5:1–10:3 Jun 5 2021 Day 114

[T]hat they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor.

Esther and her guardian uncle Mordecai have saved the Jewish people from the destructive plot of Haman. The day the whole lot of the Jews were to be destroyed was turned into a day of celebration. The word for ‘the lot’ is pur, which is the root of the Jewish celebration, Purim. Purim starts with a day of fasting and reading of the book of Esther. As is written in Esther, Purim also includes giving gifts to friends and family, and donating money to the poor.

There is something deeply rich about celebrating something in the same way and manner as is prescribed in scripture written nearly 2500 years ago. People throughout time and space have been sending gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor to honor the events in Esther, a book in scripture containing zero references to God. I love this.

Clearly there is a deep understanding to the people from the 4th century BCE through current day, that God is at work, even if God’s name isn’t invoked or praised or refenced at all. It’s like Jung said, bidden or unbidden, God is present. In my own life, when I feel like there are patches where God is absent, it’s just because I’m not looking or noticing God. Even in the crummy times, God is present.

The religious honor given this seemingly secular story of Esther is a great reminder that religious honor and celebration can and should include seemingly secular stories. When good things happen in the world in corners where God is not intentionally bidden, the religious community should still celebrate God’s victory in the world, just as the Jewish people continue to celebrate Purim. We can celebrate the successes of secular people, even atheists, as an example of God’s work in the world.

The other part I love about the celebration of Purim is that it is a celebration called out in Scripture. In our Christian faith, we have many celebrations but few are called out in this level of detail. To me, that means that the celebration itself can morph and be subject to the whims of the times, without the grounding force of scripture to tether it. For example, our celebration of Christmas didn’t begin until more than 300 years after Jesus’ birth, and didn’t become a regular holiday until 500 years after that. There’s evidence that the date of December 25 coincides with a pagan holiday to celebrate the passing of the winter solstice and the lengthening days in the northern hemisphere. That rhetoric was picked up by the Christian community, and soon it became a wonderful truth that Jesus was born just as we all needed longer light days (in the northern hemisphere). Don’t get me started on Easter, which was named for a pre-Christian goddess Eostre, and the celebration itself was a pagan festival to celebrate spring. And we don’t even agree with the Orthodox Christians on the date of Easter. Our monotheist scripture doesn’t mention the goddess of spring or December 25.

To be clear, I’m not knocking our lovely traditions of Christmas and Easter. They are important ways we’ve marked our faith, in the absence of scriptural clarity. And we should recognize that the celebrations are constructed by humans, and have morphed over time and will continue to morph. How many people celebrate an entirely secular Christmas and Easter?

We need to hold on to the details of our celebrations lightly, recognizing they’re rooted in very little, and where we find something deep and true, we should hold on to that. For example, there’s a chant sung at the Easter service starting Saturday night, normally by a deacon. That chant goes back to the 600’s. It’s not spelled out in scripture, but it’s one of the older components of our Easter Vigil. I’ll hold on to that. Pentecost is also mentioned in Scripture, so that’s one I hold tightly. This morning, I’m thinking about the depth of my faith, and about how much of the celebrations are constructed by well-intentioned people of faith throughout the ages. I’m also thinking about how God is present even when not mentioned, and how some of those moments, like Purim, should be celebrated too.