You see, according to my calendar, Easter isn’t until next Sunday and I know Catholics and Episcopalians aren’t that far apart. Given that context, I’d say what she sent is ignorant, obnxious, or both, but I’m not sure it’s anti-Semitic. I liked the OP’s response and, if I were the one asking the question, I’d appreciate the thorough answer. Elwood, you can and should[ul]
[li]Thursday: Maundy Thursday service. I don’t know if the choir’s singing, but devout Episcopalians usually go.[/li][li]Friday: Good Friday Service at noon, sung Mass in the evening[/li][li]Saturday: Easter Vigil Saturday Night[/li][li]Sunday: Two Easter Sunday services. Fortunately, choir and clergy are fed between them.[/ul] [/li]I’m not doing the sung Mass on Good Friday this year, but I will be doing everything else and attending a service at my old church on Good Friday. On Sunday afternoon, I plan on collapsing in an exhausted heap.
Elwood, congratulations on your escape! Oh, and Loaded Dog, I love your response. If you don’t mind, I’ll pass it on to a Jewish friend who I know will appreciate it.
Maundy Thursday – I guess I am fairly devout; I don’t go to church every Sunday because the one I love is an hour away from my home, almost. But I make Maundy Thursday if I can’t make anything else. I took my first Communion at the first Maundy Thursday service I went to; I was just all swept up… I believe the choir will be there at the 7 pm service, which is the one I’m going to.
Friday: Can’t make it to the noon service because my bosses (HEATHENS :D) don’t give us Good Friday off and I don’t have the vacation time. Meh. I’ll go to the evening service again and the labyrinth walk after.
Saturday: Easter vigil with bells and a big explosion of joyfulness. Can’t miss that!
Sunday: I skipped Easter Sunday last year because I was recuperating from three freaking days at church. It’s exhausting even when you really enjoy it. I realize that this schedule makes me look like a dang freak, but I don’t do this every week. I just really enjoy the big elaborate celebration once a year.
I’d give up on the relationship, but definitely consider passing on her e-mail address to your local Lubavitcher sect headquarters. Mention that she’s really really interested in converting, but kind of shy and needing lots of personal intervention.
In a similar vein, I was talking about roommates with another member of my study group yesterday, and saying that I’m thinking about moving in a few months. He said, “I know a guy who’s looking for a roommate right about then. He’s cool–I mean, he’s black, but he’s totally white-washed. Like, he’s a surfer and everything.”
I wish I could vote him out of the group. (It’s an assigned project group and our grade depends on getting each member involved equally.)
I wonder if she thought she was making a great case for Jesus?
While we are talking weird responses to personal ads: I have on mine that I don’t date men with children and am wary if they have been married before (don’t pit me…it is a perference just like someone who won’t date someone who is overweight). I am sure their kids are wonderful and exwives are fine but I am not going there. When I had (note past tense) an ad on match.com, I would routinely get emails from men who had children (“and I have two wonderful children who want a new mommy” types). I always want to write back “Can you read?”
My guess is that she took a bit of offense to the third paragraph. The “too religious” remark. I personally thought it was a bit over the top but she was over the top too. Fighting fire with fire doesn’t work.
I’ve spent a lot of time reading and thinking about interfaith relationships (I’m also a convert to Judaism). I think that there are pretty much two successful scenarios:
Neither partner is very religious
The partners talk early, often, and frankly about problems that might come up because of different religions. That includes things like comfort levels with religious decorations and items in the home, whether one partner would try to convert the other, attitudes toward birth control, kids, holidays, and all that stuff.
I don’t think the scenario that some people try, of trying to ignore the issues that come up in an interfaith relationship, works very well.
That said, I think bringing up kids right off the bat was probably a mistake. Oh, and she’s either an asshat or incredibly stupid for sending a “Christ is risen” email to someone she knows isn’t Christian or interested in becoming one. You dodged a bullet here.
If I weren’t already happily married, I’d date the OP, based on what he wrote and the thought he has evidently put into this. But he wouldn’t want to date me- wow, two bullets dodged at once…
I think she was referring to hole-y, errrrrrrrrrr holy week. Yes, Holy Week. I suppose that’s Resurrection-7Days.
I’d distinguish between anti-Semitism and obnoxiously-excessive evangelical behaviour. The Aggressive Christian seemed to be negatively reacting to the poster’s apparent(to her) insufficiently “enthusiastic” religious fervor. ow, if she laid into you over “killing Jesus”, then you’d have a claim.
If they get too obnoxious, or if they have a sense of humor, look up a Zombie Jesus hyperlink, and send it to them as your special recognition of the “risen” Jesus.
