I don’t personally know any other Christian who celebrates Purim. Many Jewish holidays and religious rules are rendered obsolete under the New Covenant. If I may be a little flip (but also honest), I’m very grateful for Peter’s vision about ‘unclean’ animals, because bacon is a very nice perk of being Christian. (Yes, I realize the vision was more about the unclean ‘animals,’ the Gentiles, but it is also part of why I can eat shrimp.) And while I don’t think Purim is necessary from a Christian theological standpoint, it doesn’t run counter to my beliefs the way celebrating Yom Kippur would. There is no need for a Day of Atonement as Christ was the atoning sacrifice. As a Christian who was raised with an appreciation for our faith’s Jewish roots (and who may be part Jewish, as you’ll remember I don’t know all of my ethnic heritages), I do celebrate biblical Jewish holidays that complement my faith. Of these, Purim is my favorite.
Obviously Purim does not carry the same meaning for me as it does for a Jewish person. As a student of world history and an advocate for racial equality, the story of the salvation of the Jews from an impending holocaust is one I can appreciate. But certainly that aspect does not touch me emotionally the way I imagine it does people who are culturally Jewish and still live in a world with rampant anti-Semitism. As a Christian feminist, my love of Purim stems from the fact that, for me, it is a yearly celebration of the role of women in the history of the church. And that is how I celebrate it.
Esther is a very interesting book that, to me, helps prove the Bible is more than something just written and compiled by a bunch of men who wanted to keep people in line. Certainly, a person outside the Church would draw a conclusion that Christianity, and therefore the Bible, is sexist, because some branches of the Church have practiced sexism since the Middle Ages. Women are “put in their place.” But if the Bible was written by a group of men intent on maintaining power, why does it contain so many stories of women doing outrageously awesome things? Why would these men keep stories like that of Deborah, who was a prophet and the leader of Israel? The book of Esther not only celebrates a woman but lifts her status by naming the book after her, when it could just as easily have been named after Mordecai. The book of Esther also never mentions God, and some people argued against including it in the canon for that reason. (Maybe some of them were also motivated by sexism, who knows?) But it did make it into the canon, and I believe that is evidence that the process of the compilation of the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
My cousin, Jenny, and I sometimes picked books to read and discuss with each other. One of them was The Da Vinci Code, when it came out. We didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. It was so obviously fiction to us, yet some Christians were going crazy trying to get books and videos produced to refute the claims made in it. Did they really think that people would buy into that church cover-up, women oppressing conspiracy theory? Then it dawned on us that people did. They were people who had been raised in other Christian traditions that ignored or warped the Bible’s teachings and created a great sense of marginalization among 50% of their congregants. (Actually more than 50% based on polls of church attendance.) They were probably women who hadn’t been given any opportunity to serve their church beyond baking cookies for Vacation Bible School or working in the nursery. I recently read a book called The Resignation of Eve by Jim Henderson that explores some of the reasons women are leaving the church, and often, it is because they aren’t able to use their gifts in the way they feel called.
Purim is a reminder that God calls whomever He chooses regardless of their station in life. It is a reminder that He calls women to all kinds of tasks and ministries, and sometimes sets the stage for them to perform great acts of bravery that affect the course of history. I wouldn’t say that Purim is a celebration of girl power. Rather, it’s a celebration of God’s power, which is sometimes channeled through a woman.