Easter echoes

The most recent Easter Sermon by Bishop Wright was intendedly shocking. He made several points of denouncing unrighteousness. He highlighted the current debates on abortion, babies euthanasia, asylum seekers, and human-animal inter species genetic bending.

Peter’s message to Cornelius was that through his resurrection Jesus has been constituted as the judge of the living and the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the final putting-to-rights of all things. In the light of the resurrection, the church must never stop reminding the world’s rulers and authorities that they themselves will be held to account, and that they must do justice and bring wise, healing order to God’s world ahead of that day.

Bishop Tom Wright "The uncomfortable truth of Easter" a sermon at the Sung Eucharist in Durham Cathedral Easter Day 2008

The Anglican Mainstream blog echoed Wright's words and further elaborated on the recent Dutch protocol on finishing the life of suffering or disabled babies, with the several scientific support obtained by the medical community. The Church should have a saying. We still believe that humans are made to bear God's image, and therefore human life should be preserved with all available efforts, not terminated as easily as possible.

“[W]e are moving toward a medical system,” says Smith, “in which babies are put down like dogs and killing is redefined as a caring act.” But this can happen only in a society that has forgotten that every human life is made in the image of God—and, therefore, worthy of protection. Think worldviews do not matter? Think our Christian heritage is irrelevant? Too bad we cannot ask the infants of Groningen what they think. Deadly Trend, by Chuck Colson 3/14/2008 The Infanticide Protocol

Furthermore, it makes me think of a global covenant with death. May the Truth of Easter bring true light to our paths!

Easter Sunday: He is risen!

A message of hope in the "post" world (NT Wright)

A very interesting "informal" meeting with Tom Wright, the Lord Bishop of Durham.

History and Resurrection

I found interesting to bring the following historical account. It was written by a non-believer historian, who had probably another agenda. Flavius Josephus gives an objective tone for the celebration of Easter. Jesus was risen from being dead as the witnesses reported. Hence, Jesus was indeed the expected Jewish Messiah since he fulfilled the old prophecies about him. Moreover, Josephus reports that Jesus begun a new "tribe", the so called "Christians" that were still alive and are still alive today all over the world.

Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day. (Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 3, Paragraph 3)

I used the drawing "Resurrection" by Luc Freymanc (© Luc Freymanc 2001-2007) who allows specific free use for "Use on a non-commercial website or blog." Please visit Luc Freymanc drawings.

Holy Week 2008

At the end of this week, specifically on Friday, our Church has organised a small gathering for the celebration of the Communion. I've gotten the responsibility to prepare some thoughts, maybe a meditation on the Last Supper (or maybe the First Kingdom Celebration). I guess that there are many places where it has been done already, so it would not be anything new. However, I'm not planning to simply surf on internet and cut-and-paste some nice thoughts, even if it is really tempting.

King Jesus is amazing. He left us a simple meal, bread and wine to celebrate his Kingdom, and to announce out loud that he is indeed coming back. Somehow the "already-not yet" tension is manifested in this meal. We join together with Jesus in the upper room, we join together with all those who through history have celebrated King Jesus in the same way, and we anticipate the consummation of times, when Jesus will appear for ever.

What is also more important is that as we celebrate communion, as we share the bread and the wine with each other, we declare that there's no more division between "Jews and Gentiles", for both have been inserted in Jesus, the true Vine. We proclaim that forgiveness of sins is available for all those who welcome King Jesus in their lives, and that are made co-heirs of the Kingdom.

The Supper is also a symbolic representation of the lifestyle of love. Love is not at all a simple feeling. It is a lifestyle that embraces the other, that campaigns for social righteousness, that actively engages in the preservation of our heritage (the Earth), that longs for the end of poverty and hunger. Actually, Jesus said that his disciples were going to be known because they loved each other in a way that would put the social systems upside down.

My question today and that probably will remain: how do we embody as Church this love-vocation?

I found the image here.

Mourning for the victims

"Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.' Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

"In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you." Matthew 5.38-48 (The Message)

From the Professor's point of view

I was reading the weekly email from Medscape MedStudent, that arrived with an appealing title "Making Students Cry". I simply wanted to quote the last paragraph:

... (medical) students seem to be robust—frequently asking for feedback on their weaknesses and errors. However, I have come to realize that such robustness cannot be assumed and that when addressing a point of error, I need to remember that the person is always more important than the point.

The whole story goes on the fact that lecturers and teachers often don't consider the feelings of the student, dehumanizing the whole process of teaching and learning. I think that each individual has been through at least one unpleasant moment at school and/or university. Oral examinations for example. I still remember once a professor telling me "you don't have yet the maturity to be an engineer" and sending me obviously to second session. I had to spend all my holidays studying for that specific subject, that I've never used afterwards. Anyway, the experience in itself helped indeed in my own personal development and in the understanding of how relative things are. I could tell many other stories.

Church issues are often solved in similar ways. I guess that pastors create the same kind of "fear" in the congregation as professors create in the classroom. As the articles author said "actually I don't feel myself as threatening" but it does not mean that others actually do. Interestingly, addressing the other's feelings, as normally pastors should do, appeared to be the solution. I wonder if in Churches we could also think of some paradigm changes when addressing problems or pointing out mistakes.

May God show grace through His people.

Social Justice and the challenge for the Church

As a simple observer, I've found that many of the younger people, particularly in the Belgian Church context, are very much interested in social justice, poverty, environment and so forth. Recently, I read a not so old article, that touches this issue, particularly the controversy between those focused on "saving souls" and those focused mainly on doing charity actions.

I would recommend Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright's excellent book "Evil and the Justice of God" to enrich and bring a refreshed view on what Christianity actually means. For some people, being Christian is all about where they go when dead (heaven or hell). With all respect, that particular view isn't really what the Bible tells about being a disciple of King Jesus. Although we've reached The End (eschatos) in Jesus, because of His resurrection, that gives us the guarantee of the way to follow, we have the vocation to embody Gods restorative program for the whole creation, advancing "new creation", in prayer and worship. We are called to live a different lifestyle, the lifestyle of eternity fueled by love in total honesty, holiness and truth.

Advancing the Kingdom means that there is still lots of work to be done here and now on earth. Creation is longing for the manifestation of the Sons of God. How long must creation wait? There is a need of the future breaking in the present to restore things, e.g. to correct injustice. The Church should confront the ugliness of the monsters (political and ruling human systems) that rise from the deep of the sea (far away from God's heart) with the beauty of the bride, the New Jerusalem, shining in glory because it comes directly from God's heart.

The challenge for the Church, the Body of Christ on earth, is to embody a different way of doing things and relating. The world should know that we are Jesus' disciples when we love each other. When we understand that the Cross made a way for forgiveness, for collaboration, for destruction of social inequalities, then we can confront the system and tell out loud: Jesus is actually King.

Copyright Note: The picture "Homeless Christ" is property of Deb Hoeffner Illustration, and has been used with permission.