"Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the hearth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." John 12:24
"Very truly I tell you, the one who believes (trusts) in me will also so the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these..." John 14:12
Resurrection. It's part of the landscape of Christian faith. The walls of our reality are papered with it, and the air we breathe is saturated with it. Indeed, the notion of Resurrection is pretty much central to who we are as a people of faith. More than merely central, it makes up the theological core of Christianity.
For some time now I have been meditating and preaching on Resurrection. I've led some workshops around our District, and engaged our leaders in praying about it. And candidly, as I have dwelt on the Resurrection I have become convinced that we neither understand nor embrace it very well.
As we have done with much of Christian faith, we have reduced the idea of Resurrection to an article of religion. It has taken its place in line with the list of things we must ascent to if we are to be admitted to "the club." "Do you believe in the resurrection and the life?" is a key question we get asked. But I think this is the wrong question. The word that we have translated into the English language word, "believe," is from the Greek word pistus which doesn't actually mean "believe," as we understand it. A more accurate rendering of the word into English would be to ask if you "trust." For us, trusting is a far cry from believing.
So the question isn't about believing in the Resurrection, but rather about trusting in it, not as some dusty historical event, but as a living reality that we choose as a community. Do we trust in the Resurrection....and the life? That's a much different question, isn't it? In other words, are we willing to live our lives as though the Resurrection were real, not just at the end of our days, but in each moment we receive as a gift from God?
This "life" we refer to is a way of living that sees new life everywhere. It is a worldview that does not end as the last breath leaves the body or as the seed falls to the ground. We are both called to, and capable of bringing new life. We are called to bring new life in our relationships, in our communities, and yes.....in our Churches. Remember, Jesus said we would do greater things than him.
So the questions come. Where is new life needed, and what are we willing to let go of to allow it to emerge? More to the point is the question about our willingness to die to this world so that we can live to Christ ( It's like that old Gospel Song, "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven, but Nobody Wants to Die...." There's uncomfortable truth here. We like the idea of new life. But we're too busy clinging to the old one to take hold of anything new. We're too addicted to the ways of death to even turn to life. I'm reminded of a time in my youth when I worked in Domestic Violence Shelter. I remember being horrified at the thought of people in violent settings who would stay in a place where they were in mortal danger because the world they didn't know was more terrifying than the one they knew.
We in the Church are not unlike that. We would rather die than risk new life. Our ways of being Church in this culture no longer work. This is not news to anyone. But it would be news if we were willing to let the grain of wheat fall to the ground so a new and more bountiful harvest may take place. It would be news if we could say the truth about our churches and our faith communities and make choices that would lead us to life rather than a slow and debilitating death.
But the clear, beautiful and startling truth is that we are not a people of death. We ARE a people of the Resurrection, a community of new life and hope. So the call is to trust in the Resurrection; to pour our lives, our energy and our gifts unstintingly into new expressions of joy and love. Rather than clenching our fists in a death grip on we have left, let us release it all for the sake of the Gospel. Rather than seeking for what once was, let us jump into the rivers of life that flow around us now.
So there are four questions each person, each community might prayerfully consider as we step into a new day.
1) What's working? In other words, what things in our lives and our faith communities are good, true and life giving? Let's celebrate them.
2) What's not working, but could with some careful attention and focus, recover so that it gives hope and promise once again?
3) This is the hard one. What, in our lives, and in our churches, just plain is not working anymore? Be clear. Be honest. This is the one where self-delusion creeps into the conversation. Seriously. Ask yourself.....What just plain isn't working anymore?
4) What will you do to let go of that thing that no longer works so that you can pour your energy, your spirit, your talent and your resources into new life......into the Resurrection?
It's these four questions that we ask as we travel about these days.
And it's my fervent hope that we might abandon the creaking old "belief systems" where we ascent to certain propositions without ever doing anything, and reach together for new life.
What's that look like? I don't know. I guess that's where the trust thing begins.
Thanks for reading....
DS Schuyler
