There is a lot wrapped up in the question of the Resurrection
for us as people of faith. We have only
to look around at our present culture to grasp that. We deny death. There is a reason why the advertising focuses
on a ‘younger’ look. The older look reminds
people of the end of life, despite a subtle change I have noticed. More mature actresses are now spokes-models
for cosmetic and beauty companies. Helen
Mirren represents L’Oreal (or she did).
But the message to me seems to be that we can stay younger even when we
get older (I get the message but I don't understand the message).
We want the Gold standard, not the Old standard.
Thus, when we throw around a technical faith word like ‘resurrection’,
eyes glaze over and sleep creeps into the span of attention. And who can say for sure, maybe we need to
get old to ‘get it’. Maybe the idea of
living forever becomes more real when we begin to realize that we are, in fact,
mortal, no matter what the commercials tell us.
Or maybe we have fallen for the dystopian visions of the
future where everything is going to end badly.
Pick your poison, zombies, plague, environmental disaster, a revolution
in AI technology where the ‘meatware’ of the human being is made obsolete. I am rather a fan of the alien invasion,
although more like ‘War of the Worlds’, not ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’. I prefer to lose a stand up fight. Resurrection seems rather mundane in this vision of what is to come.
Somewhere in the middle of all that Jesus says, “Come to me
all who labor and are heavily laden and I will give you rest.”
Maybe the problem with “resurrection” is not on the positive
side, but on the negative one. Because
the Christian message is a two-edged sword.
There is a dualism, living forever in heaven OR in hell. And a lot of my colleagues of faith spend an
awful lot of time emphasizing what happens to somebody who does NOT believe. Eternal barbecue where we serve as the main
course seems to stick better than the idea of eternal love and happiness. To make things worse, in this highly charged religio-political
environment, there are Christians posting comments all over the web that they
look forward to seeing unbelievers burn in hell.
In that moment, the resurrection becomes a freak
show. People of faith enjoying the
vision of other children of God burning in hell? I guess I should not be surprised.
On a whim, I googled “Is this all, is there nothing more?”,
looking for a source to try and bring some closure to this post. Turns out there is!! This is the title of an article by
Robert Lanza, looking at “biocentrism”, yet another attempt to explain what
happens when we die. (robertlanzabiocentrism.com). Apparently, it is a whole book-except
salvation and resurrection are integrated into the physical universe, or
multiverse and not in Jesus Christ. I need to read that one, get a handle on the 'opposition'. LOL
At the end of the day, the Resurrection means this for me: It means that those people I have known and
loved who have already died, I will get to see again. It means that all those whose Funeral Services I have been privileged to offer, I will get to meet them. It means that the love of Christ, which I get
to see in shining moments of heavenly intervention in this life, will become
the norm. It means that the aches and
pains, the sadness and tears, the ‘down’ and ‘dark’ of this life, will be
concluded for the promise of something better. It means that the Children of
God will be gathered to our God who loved us so much that God sent Jesus, God’s
only Son, to save us.
It reminds me that Jesus, and what He did, is the Reason for
the Season as we count down the days to Christmas Madness.
Pastor peter
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