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| A member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America | ||
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April 2003
At the time of my writing this, war with Iraq may be only a few days off, or perhaps not. At the time of your reading this, that war may be nearly over, or perhaps not. We may be mourning the loss of many American soldiers and haunted by the death of many Iraqi civilians, or perhaps not. We may be reeling from terrorist attacks in this country, or perhaps not. We may be facing the prospect of an airline industry in shambles and an economy in crisis, or perhaps not. At the time of this writing, we just don’t know. And more than anything, that is what characterizes our life today: deep uncertainty. And fear. Prior to 9/11 we thrived on the illusion that we were safe, immune, enjoyed special protection. That illusion was shattered forever that day. And no matter what happens with Iraq, this we now know, or should know: there will be new threats, new dangers, in this very unstable, volatile world. Much will remain uncertain. Fear will continue to accompany us. We are not immune and never have been; we are never safe from terrible things happening. Of course, by the time of your reading this something else will be occurring: preparations to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. And you have to wonder: does the resurrection have anything to say to our uncertainty and fear; does it speak at all to a world like ours? I think it does. The world in which the first believers found themselves was also a dangerous and volatile world. They too lived with uncertainty and fear. But the resurrection of Christ, encountering the living Christ, filled them with a strength and courage they had never before known — it made them 10 times the people they had been. Because no longer did death have the last word, no longer was the end of their days the end of them, no longer did fear rule them. They had a certainty that nothing could take from them: the certainty of Christ’s presence with them, and the certainty of life even in the midst of death. The resurrection gave them hope and profound peace in a world that offered little of either. But what the living Christ did went far beyond their lives as individuals. What the resurrection did was to form them into a new kind of community — they became a resurrection people. They became a community which was marked by generosity and concern for the other, a community in which differences were overcome and people sought to build up one another and not tear each other down, a community in which love for others was valued above all else. They became a very different kind of community, very different from the world, with different priorities and goals. And I think that’s the power of the resurrection for us today as well, what the living Christ can lead us to: not simply an individual sense of security, but the courage and wild faith that seek to build up communities in which there is generosity and graciousness and concern for the other, communities which work to overcome hatred and hostility and suspicion, communities which work for understanding between people of different faiths and nationalities and races, communities in which there is humility and openness, communities in which people seek to be healers and life-givers. It is the way to true hope and a new kind of earth. In this very uncertain and fearful world, there is one thing that is certain: the power of the Risen Christ to work life in and out of all things. To live in that certainty, to allow Christ to live in us and work through us, is to be resurrection people who live with wild hope and profound peace and who help God bring near a new way of living and being in this world. God be with you, Jeff
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