REsources for Living
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For Christians, Easter is a big deal holiday. Unitarian Universalists (Christian and otherwise) tend to focus on the life and teachings of Jesus, rather than his death. But for most Christians the Easter story of how Jesus died—and then reappeared to his friends three days later—is the central mystery of their religion. Of course, not all Christians (UU or otherwise) have the same understanding of what that mystery means.
Some Christians talk about “redemption,” which basically means “buying back.” When I was small some stores would give out green stamps or blue stamps, which you collected in little books. Then you’d take your book of stamps to a “redemption center” to trade them for toys or cookware or whatever. The Christian idea of redemption is kind of like that. Jesus, they believe, died for our sins: because he was the Son of God his suffering and death paid for all the bad things people had done or would do. Some Christians say that the Easter story means that they are “redeemed,” bought back by Jesus Christ, who traded in his suffering for their souls.
Other Christians talk more about “salvation” or being “saved.” “Salvation” and “redemption” are sometimes used as if they were the same — a way for souls to go to heaven — but they have very different meanings. Redemption means buying back, trading one thing (suffering) in for another thing (going to heaven). But salvation means healing. Like when you put salve — ointment — on a wound or a place that is sore. If you understand the Easter story as a story about salvation, then the story about Jesus appearing to his friends after he died is about healing. Not just how Jesus was healed, but also how his friends were healed from the trauma of witnessing his death, and how Jesus asked them to preach his message of healing to the world, and how every person can be healed, even when it might not seem possible.
It’s important to remember here that healing can mean a lot of different things. There are stories of Jesus physically healing people just by touching them, but the healing by salvation isn’t so much about healing bodies as it is about healing souls. How do souls get healed? Well, there are plenty of different answers for that one. Some Christians would say that the way to heal souls is simply to accept that Jesus has saved you. But UUs tend to expect that each of us is more involved in our own healing, and in the healing of the world.
Sometimes our souls get healed when people offer us kindness, when the world turns out to be full of unexpected sources of love. Once, when I was maybe four or five years old, I got separated from my family when we were out on a busy street. I was too young and scared and confused to have any idea how to find them again (or to know that I should have just stayed put and waited for them). What I remember about the incident, along with my fear and confusion, is that some kind strangers saw that I was lost, and bought me an ice cream cone, and held my hand until they were able to connect me back with my parents. My soul got a little bit broken when I suddenly discovered that I was all alone in the world. And it got a little bit healed when people I had never seen before or since took the time to make sure I was safe.
Sometimes our souls get healed when we are the people who offer kindness, and find connection. I read wonderful letters from people who participate in the CLF Prisoner Pen Pal program. It seems to be pretty common that folks in the CLF or other UU churches decide to join the program because they want to do something nice for another person. They know that life inside prison is very hard and lonely, and they know that doing something bad enough to land you in prison means that you’ve made a very bad mistake, but it doesn’t mean that you are a very bad person. So they sign up to exchange letters with someone who is locked up away from their home and family. And pretty often we hear from these people that the connection they create through those letters is healing for their own souls, as well as for their pen pals in prison. These letter writers share from the heart with people whose lives seem very different, and find out that their souls are much the same.
Sometimes our souls are healed by silence, or music, or poetry, by letting something beautiful creep in. Sometimes our souls are healed by a willingness to be amazed, like the other night when, very late, I stared up into the sky as the moon ever so slowly slid behind the earth’s shadow and turned a deep red-orange in a full lunar eclipse.
And sometimes, perhaps, our souls are healed by the example of a person who tells hard truths, like the fact that it is possible to love people who are cruel to you. Although the story may be sad, our souls can be healed by the example of a person who is willing to live by hard truths, even if standing by those truths should lead to their death.
- REsources for Living - December 1, 2020
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- REsources for Living - November 1, 2020
