How did you hear the “Truth” about Santa Claus? I never got the Santa talk, because it had
been worked out when I found out there was no Easter bunny. (I automatically assumed that if there was no
Bunny, there was no Santa. It did not
occur to me that that meant there was no Jesus.
I’m not sure why.) I was devastated;
I cried and cried. It did not occur to
me that I wouldn’t get an Easter basket.
But the Bunny was more important.
Trying to analyze this, I wonder if I wanted to hold on to
the Easter Bunny because giving him (I always saw the Bunny as male) up meant
giving up magic and the idea that something that didn’t make sense if I thought
about it was really true.
Well, this weekend, I had another Easter Bunny
experience. Have you ever tried to pin a
pastor or theologian down about the truth of the Bible? They may say that it is divinely inspired or
that we have to allow for cultural differences.
It’s kind of like the way parents hedge when they don’t think a child is
ready to know the truth about Santa.
But this weekend, I was told. “It’s all made up.” It was a churchlady bull session at a
retreat. We were all pretty much agreed
that we didn’t believe in creationism.
The New Testament was trickier. I
said that I didn’t have any problem with the virgin birth or the star of
Bethlehem. One of my friends, who knows
a lot more than I do, said very seriously, “It’s all made up.” I felt like I was back in second grade
talking about the Easter Bunny with my best friend Lorraine. “But the Resurrection . . .” (“You just mean
the Bunnies in the stores aren’t real, don’t you? I know
that.”) She repeated, “It’s all made
up. The stories are just details. It’s what they represent that’s
important.” I might have disagreed. But somehow I knew that as much as I didn’t
like it, she was right.
I didn’t burst into tears or run out of the room. I just sat there. “But God is real,” she said.
That was kind of like “Santa Claus is the spirit of
giving.” Yeah, right.
“I’ll have to think about that,” I said.
So I’ve been thinking about it. My friend and the new theologians and the priests
who agree with them are probably right.
I don’t like it, but I have decided to make it my opinion, if not my
belief.
I still got Easter baskets and Christmas presents. I still have God. But doesn’t that sound a bit wistful?
