Easter Sunday

PRACTICE RESURRECTION

Dear Members and Friends of Bethel Lutheran Church:

As we are about to gather in celebration of Christ’s resurrection, I invite you to listen to the words of Clarence Jordan (1912-1969), a 20th-century American Baptist saint.  After earning a Ph.D. in New Testament studies, Jordan founded Koinonia Farm (a small interracial Christian farming community in Georgia) and chose the life of a farmer and preacher, influencing many others through his writings and way of life, most notable Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity.

Clarence Jordan once wrote that the

“proof that God raised Jesus from the dead is not the empty tomb, but the full hearts of his transformed disciples. The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship. Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church.”

What I hear Clarence Jordan say in this quote is that we should worry less what people say they believe happened 2,000 years ago and worry more whether we are living as if resurrection still happens. If we truly believe that resurrection still happens today, then we must partner with God in transforming despair into hope, apathy into compassion, hate into love, and death into new life.

Another 20th-century American faith hero, the author and environmental activist Wendell Berry  ends his poem Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front with a passionate call to “practice resurrection.” What would it mean, I wonder, not only to “believe in the Resurrection,” but to “practice resurrection"?

Last Summer, at a preaching conference that I attended in Minneapolis, I had the opportunity to listen to an astonishing young philosopher and theologian from Northern Ireland by the name of Peter Rollins. 

I recently came across a video from 2009 in which Rollins, in his typical fast-paced delivery, speaks to what it might looks like to practice — or fail to practice — resurrection. Rollins begins with the intentionally shocking assertion that,

“I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ. This is something that anyone who knows me could tell you, and I am not afraid to say it publicly, no matter what some people may think.”

After a dramatic pause, Rollins continues,

“I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system. However there are moments when I affirm that resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm it when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees, when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed.”

Jordan, Berry, and Rollins are all pointing out that it is less important what we say we believe happened on a Sunday morning 2,000 years ago and much more important whether we are partnering with God to practice resurrection today. This Easter, these three modern prophets are challenging us to ask, “How are — and how are we not – following Jesus’ example of caring for the poor and of building the loving and grace-filled community?”

This Easter, may you open your whole self — heart, soul, mind, and strength — to God’s call to new life and renewed love. May you experience God urging and encouraging you — each day and in each new present moment — to practice resurrection.

Wishing you a Happy Easter,

Pastor Gabi