Profound thanks to our friend Victoria White, who pointed us to our friend Casper ter Tuile, who pointed us to our friends in other religious traditions.  Casper notes how everywhere in the past few weeks people have had had to redesign rituals,  “from Passover seders on Zoom to virtual Iftars later this month with the start of Ramadan. While changing traditions is usually difficult, this COVID-19 induced moment is blowing open new formsof storytelling and ritual-making that would otherwise never see the light of day.”

Casper notes that Eastertide is especially suited for such a moment: “Easter – more than most – needs that kind of new life. As Vincent Strudwick and Jane Shaw write in The Naked God, “Each generation has to clothe God anew.” But, warns Casper, this is not something that can be done with chocolate eggs and bunnies; “resurrection demands taking loss seriously.”

Casper reminds us that we are not the first to need to innovate in the face of loss: “Christian institutions have much to learn from innovative Jewish leaders,” he writes, pointing us to Daniel Libenson’s 10 Commandments of Rebuilding Judaism as a fine example of the spiritual imagination already at work.  

We agree with Victoria’s assessment:  he’s onto something!  
Hope new life is beckoning…