Last week I used this newsletter space to talk briefly about Lent, the season for Christians of introspection, contemplation of our mortality, and penitence, leading up to Easter.  This Monday and Tuesday it happens that there is another religious holiday, from another religious tradition, that is all about ecstatic silliness and fun:  the Jewish holiday of Purim.

Purim celebrates a story from the book of Esther, when the Jewish people under the Persian Empire, defeated their enemies by proudly affirming their Jewish identity.  (In that way the Purim story is a little like the theme of loyalty to something greater than ourselves that I started to speak about in last week’s interrupted sermon).  Purim is celebrated with costumes and partying, extravagant gift giving, and general merry-making, in the synagogue and at home.

Religion has space for both the quiet contemplation of Lent and the frivolity of Purim.  Religion, as I say, ought to be “reality-based” and the reality of our human lives is that we are thoughtful and silly, joyous somedays, grieving other days, the generous helper who may later be the one needing to be helped.  All of that together is what makes a life, and thus all of that belongs to the sacred.