"laestadian, apostolic, gay, lgbtq, ex-oalc, ex-llc, llc, oalc, bunner" LEARNING TO LIVE FREE: Happy Easter

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Happy Easter

This is a bittersweet day for me missing a dear friend who took her own life last fall. She loved Easter in all its sacred and secular aspects; it was her favorite holiday. Her presence is constantly missed and remarked upon, but today the sense of loss was particularly vivid, as she seemed to blossom at Easter like the lilies she loved. This morning she wasn't there to place flowers, to greet the visitors at the door, to help the children queue for their Alleluia processional, to shepherd them back to their seats, and to sneak out early to prepare the egg hunt on the front lawn.

She wasn't there, yet she was. In her family pew, it was not her shiny blond head I gazed at during the service, but a tiny black one: the infant grandson she did not live to meet. He is named Mathias, gift of God. While Mathia will grow up never knowing his grandmother, the love she gave away during her too-short life will surround him, nurture him, and buoy him up in myriad ways.

Unlike many of the people I celebrated with this morning (and perhaps you, too), I don't believe in the physical resurrection of Christ. I can't. But I treasure what the Easter story holds: a vision of death, not as an end, but as a transformation.

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Cvow writes:
He is risen! Alleluia, Alleluia! The somber period between our
recollection of the Lord's passion and death on Good Friday is over, as we
celebrate Jesus' great victory over death and sin!

At tonight's vigil mass -- the most important holy day of the year -- our
Priest said some very compelling things that made me pause and reflect. I
don't remember all that he said, but here's the gist:

When we love again, after having had our love rejected, we share in the
resurrection. When we fail but get up again and try again, we share in the
resurrection. When we have been rejected and shunned, but respond not with
hate but continue our lives with love and peace, we share in the
resurrection.

I like this priest. It sounded like he was talking directly to me! He is a
gentle and wise man that works far too hard but never complains. (Well, OK,
he does complain about those 7 AM masses!)

Happy Easter Friends! May you have a peaceful and joy filled day thinking
about the great gift we have received.

I will be giving all of you a week of peace as we fly to AZ tomorrow to lie
in the sun and dry out. My loving wife of 34 years (She who must be obeyed)
gets really annoyed when I get on the computer when we're on vacation (since
I'm usually sneaking in a little work...) so I may not post for awhile.

11 comments:

  1. "I don't believe in the physical resurrection of Christ. I can't."

    What a tragedy that you 'won't' believe that Christ is who He says He is, the risen son of the Creator of the universe. Of course you can believe. That is the Truth that will set you free, not to be free to be you, but to die to yourself and live in and for Him and His people.

    Happy Resurrection Day everyone!

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  2. What would you have me do? I'm being honest. I can't make my brain believe something it refuses to believe, and to say that I believe something when I don't would be dishonest.

    The Truth that has set me free is love beyond belief.

    But you are most welcome to believe otherwise. :-)

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  3. Many Trails Home4/09/2007 12:51:00 PM

    Free, I guess I believe in the resurrection but I surely do not believe in a lot of other "Christian" stuff. I went to a Taize service Good Friday and could barely sit through the readings, in fact, had to leave early before the last reading (I love the song/chants). Then I went to Easter service at the Mission and same thing - I cannot chant the creed along with everyone else because I don't believe in half of it and furthermore, I think that's the last thing Jesus wants us to do - parrot someone else's beliefs! Woe is me. It is so hard to find a service that "feeds" me spiritually and does not offend what I feel the Lord has taught me directly. I guess loneliness/aloneness goes with the territory sometimes. MTH

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  4. Wow, Free. You don't believe Jesus arose from the dead? Does that mean you don't believe Jesus is God? I always assumed you were a Christian believer! Tell me it isn't so!

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  5. Depends on your criteria. For me the resurrection is true -- as a powerful metaphor. It was the parable the early Christians told to share the power of Jesus, drawing on Hebrew and Egyptian myth to frame their experience. It isn't less powerful for not being literal.

    Apparently a recent poll shows 1/3 of folks who identify as Christian do NOT believe in a physical resurrection. I suspect that many among the rest have doubts they dare not entertain. But to them I would say, don't worry. God loves you anyhow.
    You can read more here and more here.

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  6. Amazing that it carries more weight that professing Christians don't believe Jesus is who He says He is, than the Truths from the mouth of Jesus Himself. Not only was he resurrected, but all those who die in faith upon the living Lord Jesus will also be resurrected when the after life begins.

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  7. Jesus also said he was the bread of life. That doesn't mean he'd been kneaded and baked into a loaf.

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  8. free, Ive never thought about a physical vs a metephorical resurrection. I'll have to contemplate that one. However I greatly appreciate your honesty and comment about about the loaf of bread; it made me laugh :)

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  9. My church I attend has talked about some things in the bible being literal and some being metaphorical. I am not really sure which parts. Just because you don't believe something is not literal, I don't think it means your not a Christian. The bible is a guide, its not your faith.

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  10. Just because Jesus said He is the way doesn't mean He is a street to walk on (any more than He is a loaf of bread).

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  11. Read 1 Cor. 15. The metaphor of a seed is used. When you plant a seed and a plant grows, the seed is no longer and a plant has come in its place. So it is with the human body. The human body cannot attain eternal life but it is transformed into a imperishable, spiritual body. The christian faith is in vain if there is no resurrection.

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