Hope personified

We gather in the darkness, trickling in by twos and threes with our individual offerings. The air of anticipation is palpable, like our vaporous exhalations in the cool air. We cluster around the rough, damp wood of the altar, shuffling the leaves, our hushed voices tinged with excitement. We unpack our offerings: linens to dress the altar, heirlooms of lace and embroidery. Candles of varied shapes and sizes placed and lit, scenting the air and bathing us in their soft glow. Mementos and treasures all positioned as we circle the altar and wait for the stories to unfold. This is our Small Group Easter Visitation. We come together in the darkness and cold of a secluded outdoor chapel at sunrise on the Saturday before Easter to reenact the women gathering at the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body, hurriedly placed there after his crucifixion.One by one we share our testimonies, our traditions, our faith in and a hope born of the light no darkness can overcome.

What did those women go there to find all those years ago? They had stood by helpless as their Lord was tortured to death. No doubt they heard his cry as he gave up his Spirit. They had seen the sky turn black and felt the earth shake as the curtain separating them from the holiest of holies was broken in two. What must they have felt? Their whole world was broken in two and all they could turn to were their traditions to comfort them. They would come and prepare his body. Jesus who embodied all the love they could imagine. Jesus who treated them with compassion and respect and had even gathered the children to him, calling them the kingdom of God. Jesus who healed the sick with a touch and cast out demons with a word. Jesus who spoke in parables a child could understand but confounded scribes. Jesus who forgave sins. Why, had he not even forgiven the very people who had tortured and hung him on the cross to die? How could this have happened? Why had this happened? But he had said he was going to die hadn’t he? What was it he said, that he would die and be raised again on the third day?

In Jesus day, there was not a lot a woman could do to change her circumstances in life. If she was fortunate enough to marry well to a kind and generous husband, she might live a comfortable life, but that was generally out of her hands. I like to imagine that these women, used to settling for whatever lot they received in life, had learned something about hope from Jesus. Maybe they approach the tomb where they have every reason to expect his lifeless body to be, with an air of anticipation. His suffering and death had played out exactly as he had said it would even though they had not believed his foretelling. So why shouldn’t they expect the unexpected now, here, in the predawn darkness? Of course they are frightened at first, but they are more than ready to hear that Jesus lives! Imagine the exhilaration of that first Easter morning. Excitement making the women bolt from the tomb, stumbling over themselves in their rush to tell the Disciples the amazing news. This is hope personified! Jesus Christ defeats death, even death on a cross! Christ is risen, he is risen indeed! Allelujah!

Risen Lord, you are the light of the world that no darkness can overcome. You are hope personified. You are our saving grace, love come down to dwell among us. Where do I go from here? It doesn't matter as long as I am in your presence. That way I will always be at the right place at the right time.Keep me ever close Lord, and make me useful. In Christ's Holy Name, Amen.

A right-side-up life in an upside-down world

The other morning I read about a minister uncomfortable with going to a foot washing service. He was okay with washing someone's feet, but having his own feet washed was way outside his comfort zone. Frankly, I imagine it's way outside most guys' comfort zones. (For an example, see Pr. Phil's blog: http://livingthelectionary.blogspot.com/2010/02/lent-1c-romans-105-15.html) Women too, while they may be okay with getting a pedicure, might be more hesitant about having their feet washed in the context of Christ washing his disciples' feet.

What is it that makes us so uncomfortable with being served by one we esteem greater than ourselves? Maybe it's because we like order in our lives, and order generally means the greatest are first and the least are, well, last. But Jesus spent his life upsetting just that kind of thinking. He was always disturbing the status quo. Love your enemies, be kind to those who do you harm, care for those who care nothing for you. Jesus was a man of contradictions. Or so it would seem. Do we presume to understand how God's plan for this universe began? What order did he establish with the creation of man and woman in the Garden of Eden except to form them from the same flesh to care for one another and all his other creations? By allowing themselves to be seduced by evil, they turned God's intended order upside down. So the order we know and that seems to make sense to us is not right. Those who know and love Jesus Christ already realize and accept that truth. But knowing and accepting a truth and living it are not the same thing.

How do we live God's truth? How do we live a right-side-up life in an upside-down world? It was impossible until God recreated his order through the flesh and blood of his Son. He sent this most perfect, upright being into the most imperfect upside-down world to teach us. Jesus, God on the inside and man on the outside walked the earth, worked, ate, drank, slept, laughed, wept, talked, mourned, celebrated, prayed, shared, taught, and did all the ordinary things we do every day. But there was one thing that Jesus did without ceasing. He loved. He loved without fear or judgment, and he loved with complete abandon and total commitment. That is the order he created, the commandment that he gave us, the example that he lived. Love the Lord our God with all our strength, with all our heart and with all our mind. Love as he has first loved us. Love one another as we have been loved. Love our neighbors, love our enemies, love the unlovable, it's all the same. There is no order beyond that, beyond love, and that is the truth that Jesus brought back into the world.

A long time ago man let go of that truth and gave himself up to doubt and sin. It took God coming into the world and taking on the body of a man to bring the truth back to us. He suffered, died and descended into the hell of doubt and darkness, taking us with him. But that doubt and darkness could never hold him, never hold the truth of God's love. Jesus, perfect lamb of God, shrugged off death like a cloak, and rose from the grave, bringing us back with him. Back to God's order, back to life and love and a world where we are meant to care for each other and all of God's creation. Jesus, God on the inside but man on the outside, turned himself inside out and became God on the outside with a heart for all mankind on the inside. That is where we find grace to live in his truth and to love as he taught us. Nobody knows and loves us like Jesus and he is the order that makes it possible to live a right-side up life in this upside-down world.

Beautiful Savior, you show us glimpses of what this world can be, of what it will be when you return and your truth will be the order that allows love to reign. There will be no more sorrow or death, only praises and rejoicing. Help us to seek your order when our world is upside-down. Fill us with your Spirit so, though we be man and woman on the outside, God lives inside us enabling us to love like you. Amen.