pomp sunday

It's the first week since I started that I skipped out on Buddha. And then on Friday night, when I should have been singing a Jewish tune, I took a nap. That meant Sunday morning would be me, pajamas, and Jesus. So, I've had to skip around in the religions a bit which wasn't my original plan. But, if religion or spirituality isn't flexible then what is the point in it's pursuit? That's my thought at least.

It's Palm Sunday and that means high times for the Christians. Kids wield palm fronds and in a week, the Easter bunny comes! I remember Palm Sundays as a kid. I liked to imagine being on that road as Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on a donkey and waving my palm in solidarity with him. Although I'm not sure I totally understood that Jesus understood that he was riding a donkey to death. As a child, the palm frond itself might have trumped that important bit of information. And who knows what the kids on the First Baptist telecast I saw this morning where really thinking as they proudly strode down the aisle on cue during a hymn to symbolize this auspicious day.

I'm finding that I might not be a fan of organized religion as a whole. I think I'm not really a fan of all the pomp and circumstance for sure. I never enjoyed the idea of dressing up for Sundays. I always felt it was a show for other people and had nothing to do with respecting my G-d. But, I didn't experience Christianity in a stiff manner either. My non-denomination church threw our hands up in the air to praise Jesus and we shouted his name whenever the spirit called us. And so when I feel the strain of structure, the stiffness of form, I want to break free from it. It was a little tough to watch the men in suits this morning and hear the dry hymns, but I did actually like the sermon.

It's a rare occurance when I am able to really listen to a sermon. I felt so talked over as a child that I know I tuned a lot of it out. Or maybe I knew then that I just couldn't buy what was being sold. I never believed that I was a bad person yet I was constantly being told this as a young Christian. I don't remember getting clear pictures of Jesus or what he taught or what he stood for or how I should strive to live like him. Of course I did just admit to tuning a lot out, but it's because I heard a lot about sinning and redemption and couldn't quite figure how I fit into that equation since I didn't believe that my life as a child (and now) equalled unholy.

I'm also finding more and more that the tenets and virtues of our religions are essentially the same. Religions simply seem to be the varied ways we human have found to put structure and consequence around being just and good. And Jesus, well, didn't he opitomize this? I learned today that Jesus rode in on a donkey because maybe he was trying to show his followers (and haters) that he could be King without the fanfare. He lived simply, loved simply and would go to his death simply. He was the anti-guady King. His humble donkey passage, in contrast to a lavish chariot, showed that he was not the run of the mill overlord. He was of the people and for them. I liked this view of Jesus today. I liked hearing not about how unholy I've been and how his ride into Jerusalem was one long meditation on my sins, but that Jesus was proudly humble and humbling. Jesus was my kind of dude, no pomp, all circumstance.