Midweek Message April 2, 2026

It’s Easter Week!

When I was growing up as a Catholic person, Easter week (better known as Holy Week) was the BEST! It was always the last week before school let out for Spring Break, and there were all kinds of unusual things that would happen in my parochial school that made time fly on by in those days when the clock seemed to tick backwards.  On Thursday (aka Maundy Thursday) we went to mass (a worship service) during school and the priest would wash someone’s feet.  This floored me! This was a symbolic reenactment of Jesus doing the same, which showed that he (Jesus) was humble, and willing to be an amazing host, caring deeply for weary travelers.  My latent desire to be a minister was always piqued on this day - and lately I have pondered, how great would world leaders be if they could embody these intentions and actions?

On Friday morning of Holy Week, we went from class to Church again - this time to re-enact the experience of Jesus on the day he died (better known as the Stations of the Cross). While I remember this as both a bit boring and a bit dreary, it was a ritual that only surfaced this one time of year, and therefore it was also special.  But, the best part was that afternoon, when we would observe total silence from noon to three - which gave me a great stretch of time to read uninterrupted in school!  (This was not the point they intended for me to take home!).  I did also learn the symbolism of this practice - it was the reported length of time it took Jesus to die from his wounds and from the method of corporal punishment used at the time, which made breathing nearly impossible, until it was impossible.  (Later, I recognized that the teacher was probably also benefiting from three hours of silence, but at the time I understood my teachers to be quite pious!)

While in seminary, one of my favorite classes asked us to take a person from another faith tradition to one of our high holy days and discuss with them their reactions.  This was how I learned that everyone did not line up to kiss the feet of a life sized Christ on a cross on Good Friday (!) The Presbyterian seminarian I was dating at the time had some strong reactions and serious questions I was not expecting from a fellow Christian!  So, Holy Week has always had some of my best memories.  It contains things I love to do: be in community, consider how to be our best selves, and engaging in ritual.

And so, if you are new to UU, you may be wondering how a post-Christian faith tradition tackles Easter. When I was a ministerial intern, my teaching minister was fretting about how to tackle Easter in a fresh way for yet another year for those who have been and who were not rooted in Christianity, and those who had been and those who had not been harmed by their faith experience previous to this one…I remember asking her, “what if we just…talked about Easter?”  

The story of Jesus’ life and actions have some staying power.  We mostly tend to reflect on his message of love about twice a year as UUs.  Fresh off the most recent No Kings rally, I can really appreciate a guy bucking the system of an oppressive regime that was consumed wholly with a desire for power. And, despite being told by the oppressive regime to stop, he continued to preach his message of love always, love deeply, love everyone.  And that’s a message that is our UU message, and that message is Holy every Week.