I did look up the holiday dates online.
Please forgive and/or correct me if they were reported wrong.
WALKING BY FAITH
Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Light, will take place on
Tuesday, December 16, through Wednesday, December 24, 2014. Rosh Hashanah, the
Jewish New Year, is Wednesday, September 24, through Friday, September 26,
2014. Ramadan, the Islamic Revelation of the Qur’an, is Saturday, June 28,
through Sunday, July 27, 2014. Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, is on
Thursday, October 23, 2014. Easter, the Christian celebration of Jesus Christ’s
resurrection, is Sunday, April 20, 2014.
Why list all of these religion’s holy days together like
this? Well, each of these religious holy days is not anchored to a particular
day of the year. They’re based on other calendars or seasonal indicators. Like
Easter, they can be early or late in a standard 365-day year.
Only one of them is celebrated with vacation days in the school systems, and Christmas is a federal holiday.
Christianity has enjoyed a place of privilege in our
culture. In a country founded with religious freedom, this religion
has had a little more freedom. The standard work week ran Monday through
Friday, with Sundays and then Saturdays being considered weekends to be granted
for personal refreshment and use. Even Wednesday evenings have been set aside
in several school districts as days for faith education and instruction. It was
easy to work in religious practice and commitment in a culture that
automatically set aside Christianity’s special days.
This is slowly changing.
Work weeks are becoming less predictable as shifts are
scheduled on a seven-day week. Sporting events, school trips, and practices are
becoming less forgiving of faith-based absences as they begin to occur on
weekends and holidays. Christianity is no longer given special space and
treatment by the culture at large.
And here’s the thing—we shouldn’t have it.
Christianity should not be privileged in a culture that claims
to be founded on religious freedom. Logically, that just makes sense. Whether
that means bringing the status of other religions into equal privilege,
declaring national vacation days for Rosh Hashanah or Eid al-Fitr (the end of
Ramadan), remains to be seen. In the meanwhile, we have to decide how to live
today.
Rather than lament the loss of this cultural privilege and
status, however, we need to learn to live faithfully in the world as it is.
Just as other religions have learned to remain faithful without the advantage
of having their worship days and holidays nationalized with vacation, we too
need to learn how to make decisions when challenged on our time and priorities.
What does this mean? It means finding the strength to
acknowledge that today’s culture does make us decide between church and other
activities sometimes. Sunday mornings will have sports tournaments and church
services. Wednesday evenings will have practices and Confirmation and youth
group. Saturday nights will have late parties, and friends and relatives will
take weekend trips to the lake or elsewhere at the last minute. Winter will
happen. Alarm clocks will sound. Calendars will be double-booked.
This is not going to change—choices will always have to be
made. Weekly Shabbat services take place on Friday nights, and I’ve yet to see
a serious change made for the Jewish religion. Complaining about the loss of
Sunday morning privilege will not help you attend more church, nor will it help
you make it to more activities.
I will not tell you that it’s okay to skip church for a
party or tournament or other activity.
I will also not tell you to skip the party or tournament for
church.
I will tell you that this is a choice. I hope that
acknowledging that this is a reality will help you address these choices in an
intentional way—a way that recognizes faithfulness, reality, and balance.
Time is spent on priorities. Our actions reveal much more
about us than our words ever could. They reveal to anyone watching what it is
we value and believe. As we continue through Lent into Easter, we are called to
reflect and evaluate what it is we believe and how we live that out.
Christianity has a position of privilege in our society. It
is growing into a less privileged position—as it should in a culture based on
equality. It is up to us to discern how we, without that
special treatment, will walk through this life faithfully and intentionally.
