Growing up in the Catholic Church, as a child I learned about the Resurrection story in the New Testament: Jesus dies and three days later he rises from the tomb.
I believe in a God who can do things too wonderful for me to understand in his time and way. Somehow this meditation felt limiting to me. Is it possible we try so hard to understand some of the mysteries of our faith, we lock ourselves in a box missing the full abundance of Gods love and power in our lives? Is that what causes us to sometimes fear our neighbors instead of loving them?
Human life is constant transformation. I've walked this same path in my own faith journey. I grew up in Christian Nationalism where faith = certainty. Belief can be beautiful and hopeful. It can give us comfort, succor and peace. But it isn't certainty.
I used to color eggs with my niece every Easter. She is one of my favorite people. When she was 12, she cried because she wanted to believe she could physically fly. She clung to a belief in Santa and the Easter bunny even though she knew they weren't real. Through her tears, she told me, "I don't want to let go of that hope that these things are possible, that they're real." And I told her that was faith. Who knows? Maybe someone will come up with a way for her to fly in her lifetime. I told her maybe SHE would invent it. I said Santa lives in every gift someone gives her, every unexpected, thoughtful action she gives someone else. We don't have to give up on those things; we merely reframe how we see them as we grow and change.
Perhaps your niece is a mystic. Perhaps we can fly in every sense but physically. Perhaps there are incredibly beautiful mysteries to explore and discover. Teresa of Avila and other saints have much to offer today.
A beautiful meditation, John. I have looked at despair as the death of all things not purely physical, and hope as the energy that enlivens the possibility (not the guarantee) of a better future. The numerous historical examples of "dying and rising savior" stories deep into antiquity seem to reflect the same phenomenon and dynamic you have so beautifully described. May you see and create many Easters in your life!
I believe the dead *will* live again visibly some day- and *still* live wherever they are now, as Jesus does. Some people discuss this or that with the Apostolic age, as I'm sure you've encountered, John. What I do know is He's saved my life in almost every way over the years, and His Spirit is as close as breathing. This feels like an important Easter to hear from Him, as I wonder what we could face next Easter. He will be with us then too, but I feel very burdened, maybe because of the fresh disgrace to His name and His word this week, as they are used again for deceptive profit. May we all thank Him and seek Him in these days of desperation when so many need to see Him in us. Thank you John for the love and authenticity you always share with us! It means a lot.
I have a more complicated and nuanced faith now than I've ever had. I have written thousands of pages of Theology I don't regret any of it ( although some of it I now find embarrassing). At 70 years old all I can say is God wins, and because God wins everyone and everything will somehow (I have no idea how), will have a new beginning.
Some days we are distracted by looking for the spectacular and miss seeing the gifts of life in front of us. My uncle grabbed my attention by pulling a quarter from behind my ear causing joy and laughter. But the quarter became in time just an object, sometimes lost or spent. But the wonder and the life of the action and presence of my uncle has never been lost or abandoned. Know Love is forever and the gift of life always before and within me and you - always a pleasant distraction.
This one hit me like a ton of bricks in a sense. After losing Mom earlier this month, it's been hard to reconcile both the loss & the hope that comes with this part of the religious calendar. Thank you for this one especially John, & all of your writings.
You have a wonderful way of expressing how I view the world and how to live a full life wrapped in love, John. I am thankful for you and your gifts. As I've aged, I look at Good Friday as a symbol of things, thoughts, beliefs, negativity, actions, words that I need to lay aside. Resurrection means the continual hope of all things that are indeed beautiful and loving.
I find myself, at this point in my faith, having difficulty getting into the Easter spirit because I now longer believe that Jesus died for atonement of all our sins. I don't believe we are born inherently sinful, I believe we are created and born in God's image and that He sees us that way. That's not to say that we don't sin, and need forgiveness, but I think the crucifixion was about standing up to authority and fighting for your neighbor and the "least of these" even if it means your death. What is your take on this? I really appreciate all of your writing and I'm hoping you can restroy my joy in celebrating Easter.
Convictions about God may be arrived at through wise reasoning, but the individual becomes God-knowing only by faith, through personal experience. In much that pertains to life, probability must be reckoned with, but when contacting with cosmic reality, certainty may be experienced when such meanings and values are approached by living faith. The God-knowing soul dares to say, “I know,” even when this knowledge of God is questioned by the unbeliever who denies such certitude because it is not wholly supported by intellectual logic. To every such doubter the believer only replies, “How do you know that I do not know?”
I believe in a God who can do things too wonderful for me to understand in his time and way. Somehow this meditation felt limiting to me. Is it possible we try so hard to understand some of the mysteries of our faith, we lock ourselves in a box missing the full abundance of Gods love and power in our lives? Is that what causes us to sometimes fear our neighbors instead of loving them?
Human life is constant transformation. I've walked this same path in my own faith journey. I grew up in Christian Nationalism where faith = certainty. Belief can be beautiful and hopeful. It can give us comfort, succor and peace. But it isn't certainty.
I used to color eggs with my niece every Easter. She is one of my favorite people. When she was 12, she cried because she wanted to believe she could physically fly. She clung to a belief in Santa and the Easter bunny even though she knew they weren't real. Through her tears, she told me, "I don't want to let go of that hope that these things are possible, that they're real." And I told her that was faith. Who knows? Maybe someone will come up with a way for her to fly in her lifetime. I told her maybe SHE would invent it. I said Santa lives in every gift someone gives her, every unexpected, thoughtful action she gives someone else. We don't have to give up on those things; we merely reframe how we see them as we grow and change.
Happy Easter, everyone.
Perhaps your niece is a mystic. Perhaps we can fly in every sense but physically. Perhaps there are incredibly beautiful mysteries to explore and discover. Teresa of Avila and other saints have much to offer today.
A beautiful meditation, John. I have looked at despair as the death of all things not purely physical, and hope as the energy that enlivens the possibility (not the guarantee) of a better future. The numerous historical examples of "dying and rising savior" stories deep into antiquity seem to reflect the same phenomenon and dynamic you have so beautifully described. May you see and create many Easters in your life!
I believe the dead *will* live again visibly some day- and *still* live wherever they are now, as Jesus does. Some people discuss this or that with the Apostolic age, as I'm sure you've encountered, John. What I do know is He's saved my life in almost every way over the years, and His Spirit is as close as breathing. This feels like an important Easter to hear from Him, as I wonder what we could face next Easter. He will be with us then too, but I feel very burdened, maybe because of the fresh disgrace to His name and His word this week, as they are used again for deceptive profit. May we all thank Him and seek Him in these days of desperation when so many need to see Him in us. Thank you John for the love and authenticity you always share with us! It means a lot.
I have a more complicated and nuanced faith now than I've ever had. I have written thousands of pages of Theology I don't regret any of it ( although some of it I now find embarrassing). At 70 years old all I can say is God wins, and because God wins everyone and everything will somehow (I have no idea how), will have a new beginning.
Some days we are distracted by looking for the spectacular and miss seeing the gifts of life in front of us. My uncle grabbed my attention by pulling a quarter from behind my ear causing joy and laughter. But the quarter became in time just an object, sometimes lost or spent. But the wonder and the life of the action and presence of my uncle has never been lost or abandoned. Know Love is forever and the gift of life always before and within me and you - always a pleasant distraction.
This one hit me like a ton of bricks in a sense. After losing Mom earlier this month, it's been hard to reconcile both the loss & the hope that comes with this part of the religious calendar. Thank you for this one especially John, & all of your writings.
You have a wonderful way of expressing how I view the world and how to live a full life wrapped in love, John. I am thankful for you and your gifts. As I've aged, I look at Good Friday as a symbol of things, thoughts, beliefs, negativity, actions, words that I need to lay aside. Resurrection means the continual hope of all things that are indeed beautiful and loving.
I find myself, at this point in my faith, having difficulty getting into the Easter spirit because I now longer believe that Jesus died for atonement of all our sins. I don't believe we are born inherently sinful, I believe we are created and born in God's image and that He sees us that way. That's not to say that we don't sin, and need forgiveness, but I think the crucifixion was about standing up to authority and fighting for your neighbor and the "least of these" even if it means your death. What is your take on this? I really appreciate all of your writing and I'm hoping you can restroy my joy in celebrating Easter.
Convictions about God may be arrived at through wise reasoning, but the individual becomes God-knowing only by faith, through personal experience. In much that pertains to life, probability must be reckoned with, but when contacting with cosmic reality, certainty may be experienced when such meanings and values are approached by living faith. The God-knowing soul dares to say, “I know,” even when this knowledge of God is questioned by the unbeliever who denies such certitude because it is not wholly supported by intellectual logic. To every such doubter the believer only replies, “How do you know that I do not know?”