We are Christ-centered Friends who equip and encourage all people
to respond to God's love and transforming Spirit.

What does Resurrection look like?
April 4, 2010

So if anyone is in Christ,
there is a new creation;
everything old has passed away;
see, everything has become new!
2 Corinthians 5:17

Over the past few weeks we have been reflecting on the spiritual movement that occurs in the dark wintry seasons of our life. Today we stand on the threshold of something new, wondering where life is sprouting up and growing in and around us.

What new life is emerging in each one of us gathered here in this room on Easter Sunday morning?

In a world of suffering and injustice, where children are abused, the weak are exploited, and people go to bed hungry, what will resurrection look like?

What will resurrection look like in our depressed economy, where people are losing their jobs, their homes, and accessing food boxes for the first time?

Jim Wallis, writer and editor of Sojourner's magazine comments, "The necessary questions in the wake of failed banks and high unemployment are not 'When will this economic crisis end? But rather 'How will it change us?"

How do the dark times in our life change us? I believe that every crisis, every loss, every failure is an opportunity for God to bring forth new life in us.

What will resurrection look like in you and in me in the life circumstances we each find ourselves today?

Maybe you feel as though you have not yet emerged out of the darkness of Good Friday, that you have not yet risen out of a place of stillness and waiting. You long for the fresh new life of Easter morning, and yet it still seems elusive, something that only happens to other people, not to you. You feel like you continue to struggle with the same issues that you have always struggled with, the same fears, the same wounds, the same old, same old.

Maybe you have recently experienced a financial setback, or loss of health, a broken relationship, some disappointment and you are eager for a breakthrough, some relief, but it just isn't happening. Maybe you have given up hope, and grown weary of waiting for resurrection.

I wonder if perhaps we need to distinguish between anticipation and impatience for our own resurrection.

To anticipate is to believe that God is at work, underground, in surprising ways that are hidden for the time being. Anticipation melts into a longing for the One who is able to make all things new.

To be is impatient is to deem God slow, uncaring, and indifferent to our situation.

Certainly, during our darkest times we might feel abandoned, alone, and honestly wonder, "Where are you, God? Why don't you do something about this?" Jesus even uttered such words on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Yet the mystery of God's redemptive love was at work then, and still is today.

In Paul's letters to the early church, he speaks of life "in Christ" 165 times. "If anyone is in Christ there is a new creation." To Paul this meant that one must spiritually die and be raised up with Christ. And the result of being in Christ is that you take on a new identity. . . You become a new creation, transformed from within.

I believe it is the same for us today. . . Our spiritual path is always death and resurrection, death and rebirth. The two cannot be separated. The cross and the empty tomb are symbols to us of personal transformation. As we surrender to the death of our ego with all of its insatiable needs and wants we are reborn, somehow, often in ways that are hard to notice, initially, or even fully comprehend. Sometimes we lack the spiritual sight to recognize our own resurrection!

Remember how those closest to Jesus didn't recognize him either, at first. When Jesus appeared to his followers on Resurrection evening he showed them his hands and his side. The Risen Christ still bore the ugly marks of human cruelty. Sometimes I think we "prefer a resurrection in which the power of God massages away those ghastly reminders of human suffering and pain."

"Jean Vanier, founder of L'Arche communities for people with developmental disabilities, discovered the presence of the risen Christ when he was stricken with an infection that left him as weak and dependent as the people he served. He learned that we should not hide from the wounded parts of our lives." He says, 'There we will touch a lot of pain. We will possibly touch a lot of anger. We will possibly touch a lot of loneliness and anguish. There we will hear something deeper. We will hear the voice of Jesus say, 'I love you. You are precious in my eyes."

Is this what resurrection looks like? Allowing God to love the fragile wounded places within us?

Rob Bell writes in his book Velvet Elvis, that he thinks, "The way of Jesus is the best possible way to live. He says, "I am convinced being generous is a better way to live. I'm convinced forgiving people and not carrying around bitterness is a better way to live. I'm convinced having compassion is a better way to live. I'm convinced being honest with people is a better way to live. I'm convinced pursuing peace in every situation is a better way to live."

Is Rob Bell describing how resurrection will look in our lives? Becoming generous, forgiving, compassionate, honest, peaceful people . . . Is this not the new creation that Paul speaks of here in 2 Corinthians?

Over the past few days a blanket of snow has covered the greening signs of new growth in my yard. Those of you have lived here awhile know the cold winter in the Klamath basin gradually transitions into spring. There seems to be a subtle blending of one season into the next. Maybe this is how resurrection is most commonly lived out in us, gradually, over time. That what lies hidden underground does, in due time, eventually sprout up with blooms of new life and possibility, on God's timetable, usually taking us by surprise.

It strikes me that just as Jesus' resurrected body bore the scars of his crucifixion; we too rise up to new life still carrying scars from the past. The healing of our wounded selves is gradual.

Sometimes resurrection is just getting used to a "new kind of normal," little by little.

Certainly there can be times where change is sudden and dramatic, but from my experience, our transformation is a series of small steps toward change. A life "in Christ" consists of many deaths and resurrections throughout our earthly journey.

A resurrected life "in Christ" is marked by freedom, joy, peace and love. Freedom from the voices of our past, freedom from our addictions, joy in being given a 2nd chance, the peace that comes with acceptance, the peace that passes all understanding, . . . and LOVE - the love of God for us and the love of God in us. I think that this is what resurrection looks like. This is the truth and power of the Easter story.

What will resurrection look like in your life, in the challenges you face, in the losses you have experienced, in a world that is increasingly complex? What new life is rising up in you?