Beyond Our Imagining New Life Rises

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

-John 20:1

The way John tells it Mary Magdalene went to the on Easter morning while it was still dark. In this I see two things. First, she went. as still dark. Secondly, it was still dark. How do we approach new life?

Jesus was just crucified. It was a scary time for the Jesus's disciples. And you can see it in the stories:

• Peter denied Jesus after his death because he was afraid that those who killed Jesus would come after him.
• In Chapter 21 of John, we read of the disciples locking themselves up in a room, afraid.

Not imagining resurrection, not looking for anything new, only imagining things getting worse, fear gripes the disciples and they go into hiding. Not so, the disciple, Mary. Mary turns her face towards her fear. She walks to the tomb. She just picks herself up and goes, even though she can only reasonably expect the dead man, Jesus. It is hope that carries her beyond the horizon of fear.

What is this hope? Did Mary know that she would find the resurrected one? Did she know that things would work out beyond her or anyone else's imagining? Could she foresee 2000 years of Christian history? No, I don't think so. Remember, it is still dark as she makes her way along the garden path to the tomb of her friend Jesus. Perhaps you've been in a cave and turned off the light. In the cool darkness, it is as if you are sightless. You can't make out shadows, there are no flickers of light, the darkness covers and hides everything. Mary went to the tomb in just such darkness. She could not see how things were going to work out. She could not be guaranteed any outcome at all. Her hope was not in what she could see or foresee. She held her hope in the dark. Or as Paul was later to put it, her hope, "was in things unseen." Hope is not a guaranteed outcome. No, it is more like a blind trust -- a trust that somehow feels right. For Mary, each step towards the tomb seemed like the right thing to do. Each step taken in the dark prepares her for the next step, opens the territory for her to explore. This is hope: step by step in the dark.

New life or resurrection is not something that we believe in. Rather, it is discovered along the dark pathways of our lives, just over the horizon of what we know. New Life rises as we walk the dark pathways of grief or as we struggle along our life's road, despair and disappointment along the way. New life rises as we walk the dark road of uncertainty. We discover new life as as step by step we move through the garden; eyes, ears, spirits open to life's revelations. This is what Mary discovered on her way. As she was at the tomb, beyond her expectations, on the other side of her what she could think of or imagine, she encountered the Risen Christ, who called her by name, "Mary," he said. She responded "Rabbouni!"

I write wishing you an Easter of new life discovery, the resurrection available to your as you walk the dark (as in unknown) paths of this life.

Easter Blessings,

David Parks-Ramage

Who Lives? Christ lives!

This Lent as we move into Easter I have been thinking about the reversals that are present to us in Christ. Jesus taught using words like these: “The first will be last, and the last will be first,” or “Save your life and you will lose it, lose your life for my sake and you will save it.” Sayings like these ask us to consider life, living, the choices we make, in ways that we can scarcely think or imagine. As we ponder these teachings it is clear that for Jesus life is not always what it seems, that there is a deeper reality that subsumes the one that defines our conventional lives. In the reversals that Jesus talks about there are keys for new life and birth. So, please join me as together we contemplate the upside down teachings of Jesus as we move towards Easter.

By far the most “upside down” teaching was Jesus’ own life as it leads to his death and resurrection. Paul looked at Jesus' death and resurrection and saw the pattern for a faithful life lived in Christ, lived to the deeper reality of our lives. He saw that as we are baptized in Christ, we experience a death of sorts. One can call this a death to selfish desires, a death of the ego, or simply a death to the self-as-“I”-have-come-to-understand-it. This death is part of the pattern of the Christian life so that we can say with Paul, "It is not I who live..."

...but Christ who lives in me. After death came Christ's resurrection, new life, new birth. For us this means a new identity not defined by "my" desires, "my" ego, "my" self-protection. Rather we come to learn that we each have a new identity and new life as we are alive in Christ. Christianity seeks to transform our human hearts, opening us so that we may live with more love, more compassion, more hope, more joy than we thought possible. The way of Christ is a way through human life to resurrection, to eternity. Through resurrection and new life in Christ we come to identify and experience ourselves more clearly as Beloved of God. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus our whole lives hinge and we experience a reversal in our own lives where we live for God and not for “self.”

Lent is nearing its end. This Sunday is the second to last Sunday in Lent. The 28th will be Palm Sunday as we celebrate Jesus' Way, his ride into Jerusalem, his ride as he continues to embrace his life in God. Then Holy Week. Will you join me on this pilgrimage, a pilgrimage that is our journey into our true selves/our true community in God.

Blessings, David

The Eternal Now: Yes and No

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not “Yes and No”; but in him it is always “Yes.”
2 CORINTHIANS 1:19

Words are powerful. Words build up and words cut off. Words open possibilities and close them down. While dolphins squeak and dogs read body language, human beings use words to communicate. Two of the strongest words in any language are Yes and No.

No stops us in our tracks. If a young child is toddling off towards the road in pursuit of a squirrel the parent will yell at the top of her lungs, "No." And the child will stop. Such is the magic of "No." Similarly, we may be trying out something new, a new relationship, a new way of doing things, a new short cut through the woods and the thought rises - "No, I better not."Like the child toddling off we are stopped in a our tracks. No cuts off.

Yes offers an open road, a new path. Someone wants to know, "Do you want to go to the movies?" Yes has us in the car and on the way to the Rialto. or, "How about some ice cream?" It is "yes" that drips down our chin as we take another lick off our cone. Yes, opens us up, our lives, what is possible.

Paul offers us this: In Christ, God is offering us "Yes!" Christ is God's affirmative response to humanity a sign of high regard and deep love. With God's "Yes" life opens for us, wide -- possibilities for love, compassion, justice, hope, and faith become manifest. God's openings to us are always, "Yes." Paul then suggests a response, a joining of our energy to the divine. That response is just like God's call to us: to God's "Yes" we respond, "Amen."

See you on Sunday.

Blessings,
David

Yes and No

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not “Yes and No”; but in him it is always “Yes.”
2 CORINTHIANS 1:19

Words are powerful. Words build up and words cut off. Words open possibilities and close them down. While dolphins squeak and dogs read body language, human beings use words to communicate. Two of the strongest words in any language are Yes and No.

No stops us in our tracks. If a young child is toddling off towards the road in pursuit of a squirrel the parent will yell at the top of her lungs, "No." And the child will stop. Such is the magic of "No." Similarly, we may be trying out something new, a new relationship, a new way of doing things, a new short cut through the woods and the thought rises - "No, I better not."Like the child toddling off we are stopped in a our tracks. No cuts off.

Yes offers an open road, a new path. Someone wants to know, "Do you want to go to the movies?" Yes has us in the car and on the way to the Rialto. or, "How about some ice cream?" It is "yes" that drips down our chin as we take another lick off our cone. Yes, opens us up, our lives, what is possible.

Paul offers us this: In Christ, God is offering us "Yes!" Christ is God's affirmative response to humanity a sign of high regard and deep love. With God's "Yes" life opens for us, wide -- possibilities for love, compassion, justice, hope, and faith become manifest. God's openings to us are always, "Yes." Paul then suggests a response, a joining of our energy to the divine. That response is just like God's call to us: to God's "Yes" we respond, "Amen."

See you on Sunday.

Blessings,
David

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The Eternal Now: Becoming Light!

while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.

Luke 9:29,30

The Eternal Now: Becoming Light!

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr,, on the night before he died, preached a sermon in Memphis. Recounting the story of Moses on the eve of his death King said,


I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land.

The mountaintop experience. We talk about it and we experience experience ourselves anew on the mountaintop. An experience of the mountaintop is that moment when it seems that everything comes together, where worries and fears and the focus on our failures just seems to drop away. The mountaintops in our lives are about transformation and well being. Dr. King experienced the mountaintop and he speaks of the eradication of fear in his life AND the reality of his vision. "I've seen the promised land!" And he knew that the transformation was not for him alone, but for the struggles of African American people as they faced segregation, prejudice and institutionalized hatred in the United States. He knew that transformation was about Justice. So King said,

"I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight , that we, as a people, will get to the promised land."

Jesus, Peter, James and John climbed the mountain. There, on the mountaintop, Peter, James and John were excited to see Jesus in his glory. His clothes were a bright, bleached white. Jesus' countenance shone. They saw Jesus transformed and they saw the possibility for their human lives, as transformed by the incarnate Spirit of God. And as if that were not too much, they met their mountaintop ancestors. Peter is so overwhelmed by the experience (as we often are on the mountaintop) he said to Jesus, "Let's build little houses - one for you Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah -- and let's just stay here.

On the mountaintop we discover and experience who we are, the Beloved of God. This is an overwhelming experience, one that might tempt us to take leave of our lives, the nitty gritty of the day to day. This experience can cause us, like Peter, to build a hut to contain our experience and pull away from life "down in the valley."

This was not such a good suggestion, or at least Jesus ignores it. One cannot live on the mountaintop -- the wind blows hard, the weather is harsh, there is no water (water flows downhill). We live in the valley. And if we check out our biblical characters, Elijah and Moses, we see they both returned to life, to their work for Justice in the world. Jesus, too, descends.

After Peter speaks, there is a voice from heaven that announces who Jesus is and the group of them go down the mountain. The very next day Jesus and the disciples are surrounded by a crowd, teaching and healing -- living out their mission through word and deed.

So it is for us. We experience the light and truth of our lives on the mountaintop. We sometimes call this "being saved" or our "spiritual experience." To be sure, we are transformed through these experiences. It is by the grace of God that we are changed on the mountaintop.. But, that is just the beginning. I'd say that we become light down in the valley. We become the light of God for others. This means we are comfort for the afflicted freedom for the captive, liberation for the oppressed.
Ireneaus said that "the glory of God is a human being fully alive." This means descending from the mountaintops of our spiritual experience to the valley of our day to day. It means that we fully occupy our lives,living fully, compassionately and lovingly right where we find ourselves, right where we are.

Embracing eternity within ourselves, our bodies, our environment, we become the light of justice and peace in the world.

Blessings, David