Daily
Resurrection
“It
happens to us all…God simply keeps reaching down into the dirt of humanity and
resurrecting us from the graves we dig for ourselves through our violence, our
lies, our selfishness, our arrogance, and our addictions. And God keeps loving
us back to life over and over.”
Nadia
Bolz-Weber (Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner and Saint)
Resurrection
didn’t just happen once with Jesus. It happens every day in cities and towns
and in the countryside all over the globe. Resurrection happens when we decide
we’ve had enough of something that is causing pain in our lives. When we decide
to give up our addictions, our blame and shame, and find out what life is like
without our anger. We humans make all kinds of stupid mistakes. For creatures
who fancy themselves at the top of the food chain, we can think and act like
bottom feeders. We can also be the ones to help others with resurrection.
We have
the capacity to love, and sacrifice, and care for those who are less able to care
for themselves; not doing so is a choice. The paradox is that when we do reach
out to help another, we feel as though we have been given a new lease on life—a
little resurrection. When we withhold kindness and generosity, we feel mean-spirited
and spiteful—a little death. When we realize that generosity of heart does not mean
giving away something that belongs to us, but claiming a blessing for
ourselves, we break free of the grave.
I don’t
believe that God is an entity that only functions from without. God is all that
exists; we exist within God and God exists within us. God is the spirit of love
and life within all of creation. But the doubtfulness of humans leads us to
believe that it is not possible for the likes of us to be bearers of divine nature—we
are too base and dirty to bring such illumination. But let us remember that God
reached into the dirt to form us, and that all of creation came from the void.
Jesus did not choose his disciples because they were pious, clean-living
believers. They were as common as, well…dirt. Anyone who has a garden realizes
that dirt is good stuff—the foundation of life itself.
I think
we needed a wake-up call, and the pandemic has given us one. It has given us
time to remember who we are and what we are called to be and do in this world. We
are called to end the violence and stupidity and walk together as children of
the resurrection. We can choose life. And we can choose to help others live,
too.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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