Happy Easter...

Be warned.  This is not you typical Easter blog.  (If you are easily offended, I apologize in advance and suggest you read something else today.)

I was looking for an image for our website page and just had a moment of understanding about why those who are not heavily active in the church think we are crazy.

So, there's the resurrected Jesus with a stick (to keep away flies?  disciples?  sinners?  or is it just the most fashionable accessory of the day?) who shows the divine ability to tie the most perfect sash...while, or course, keeping his manhood perfectly represented.

We may also have just the first hint of the greatness of disco, carried on by the white-suited,  finger-pointing, staying-alive interpretation of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.  The only thing they got wrong was the day of the week.

 Or, there's the blondish man (I can only assume blue eyes as well) who truly shows the resurrection power as a poor dark-skinned and eyed, first-century Jewish peasant becomes the white European savior everyone can respect.

(What he's expecting from the woman is up for discussion.)  I particularly like the southern style pink azaleas, the lovely framing of the door of the tomb, and the perfectly honed eternity circle of the stone.  Do I hear Architectural Digest anyone?

There's a whole series of Jesus the Friendly Ghost pictures.  Floating in and around graves, weirdly lighted, assisted by angels in some, transparent...our imaginations run wild.  Not very biblical, however, for not many show the "this isn't a ghost" aspect of the conversation.  

Resurrection as Hallmark slogan...

Resurrection as volcanic activity...

Resurrection as video game...

It's no wonder the phrase I hear most often from non-churched friends is Zombie Sunday.  We really need to 1) figure this out and 2) be able to articulate it and live it effectively...

Solutions to the puzzle of Easter will be accepted through the Easter season...or failing that, other really bad pictures that are fun may be posted...

SIn...

Happy title, huh.

I've been thinking a good bit about sin.  It is, after all, Lent.  It is also political season--and the two things go together in my head.  There seems no better way to illustrate the pervasiveness of sin than to follow political campaigns.  Either the politicians are pointing out the sins of the "other," or their own shortcomings just keep glaring through.  

I read a great column by Frank Bruni about a college friend, deeply Catholic, and his journey through his own real life and faith journey, ending ultimately in not believing in God (who allows misery and suffering), but who today lives a rather remarkable life of Christian discipleship (even while holding to his atheism).

In this man's experience as a person and eventually a doctor, abortions have historically been a step women take--with or without legal approval.  There are times in a woman's life that having a child is unthinkable.  So this former Catholic, with deep contemplation on the scripture and life, performs abortions at a clinic every week as a service to women.  To do so, he contends with all the "stuff" you would expect--protesters, violence, etc.  

He tells a story at the end of the article about a woman always at the protests.  She scaled a ladder so she could be seen above the rest.  She was passionate and unmoveable in her belief that abortion was wrong in every circumstance.  She judged all who entered as the same "loose, unprincipled" people--shouting "murderer" at the doctors and "whore" at the women.  

The doc continues the story of the day the woman wasn't on her ladder.  He noticed her absence.  What he didn't expect was to find her in his examination room, awaiting an abortion.  She "didn't have the money for a baby right now," and "her relationship wasn't where it should be."  She received what she requested without judgment and with compassion.  And I quote the article, "A week later, she was back on her ladder."

I am struck again and again in so many places and in so many ways at the human inability to recognize sinful behavior in ourselves.  It's a bit hard to understand why we can't see it in ourselves.  We are utterly expert in seeing it in others.  The biblical text reminds us that even when no sin is there (healing people on the Sabbath, for example) we create it.  When sin dwells in us, we deflect it.  When sin overwhelms, we ask God why it hasn't been taken care of.  

For a long time, pastors and theologians swung so far to the "sin" side that we forgot our "created good" side.  I think the pendulum is swinging back to the opposite side of the arc.  We have so remembered our "good" side that only God could be "bad" and only the "other" could be sinful.  We are created good, in the image of the God who loves us more than we can imagine and who chooses to partner with us to change the world.  But until we can see our own shortcomings realistically and see others's shortcomings compassionately, we're just going to crawl back up on our ladders and nothing will be accomplished.