50 Days to FEAST

 If you look at that picture over there of Jesus, you will notice that he is destroying  hell, probably Christianity's most prominent (if not very theologically and biblically flawed) symbol of death. In this way, I am probably very Easter Orthodox in my faith, because I see the

resurrection as having done away with needing an image of separation from God. Now that Christ has come, and we believe he is resurrected, death is no more (not even spiritual death). (In this picture, in fact, he is pulling Adam and Eve out of the grave.)

 

Take these 50 days to FEAST and CELEBRATE  the resurrection of Jesus and to celebrate what God says is true about creation: that she put love and life at its center and that we can act as if that is true (because it is). 

A few suggestions for feasting:

JOY- Take on some joyful habits. Give yourself a daily dose of joy. I don’t just mean watching funny videos on your phone or viewing your favorite Will Ferrell movie for the 12^th time. Begin practicing, or re-establish some routines/ practices/ activities that you know bring you deep joy. Mine: riding my bike more, playing more mandolin and guitar and singing more, cooking some good food, going to hear live music a few times this month. What are yours? 

NEW LIFE: Pump some new life into some areas of your life that may have gone long neglected. Call a friend you have  not heard from in a long time. Finish that short story. Start back on your yoga/running/walking practice. Go vegan again. Pick up the Bible and READ it (start with the book of Acts if you want to read the “sequel” to Easter). Pray every day.  Start your day by thanking God for 10 things. Make amends with that person with whom you have had a “stupid” fight or break-up. New life is everywhere if you look for it! 

BEAUTY AND TRUTH- Spend some time with God’s two greatest messengers- beauty and truth. Read a hard book. Watch some “important” films. Go to the art museum. Spend some time outdoors where there are lots of flowers and green stuff.  Listen to some good and meaningful music. Do it all with gratitude in your heart for the beauty and truth God fills our world with. 

PEACE- Find some silence in your life. Start with just 5 minutes a day and sit quietly and breathe. Turn off the screens for a night a week. Get enough sleep for once. Listen in the silence for what God is saying to you. 

True, we are about doing the hard things in the world—reconciliation, peace, feeding the hungry, healing the sick- but we are also about noticing and celebrating the outward demonstrations of God’s continuing presence in the world. JOY, NEW LIFE, BEAUTY AND TRUTH and PEACE are just a few ways God is made known. How else do you see God alive in the world? Easter is our time to notice new life and celebrate it.

Tim

Lament+ God= Resurrection

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? and are so far from my cry and from the words of my distress?  O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not answer;  by night as well, but I find no rest.  Psalm 22:1-2

Who in your life can you tell just about anything? 

Patricia, the person I have been married to and with for the last 25 years, and 2 men named Brad Davidorf and Brent Darnell are my “people.” When I tell one of them that I am in a dark and lonely spot, just the act of sharing with them changes my reality. My telling them may not actually solve the presenting problem. What is most transformative in the moment is that our connection takes what was previously wrapped in darkness gives it a peak of the light of the love and friendship that we have for each other. 

I have been learning, most of my life, how to have the same kind of relationship with God. We can shake a fist at him when things fall apart. We can laugh with her when life goes our way. We can say, out loud, that we feel as if we are alone,(even if we are not). We can even do like the psalmist and lament.

Prayer is not, as writer Rob Bell says, “Just saying pretty things to the sky.” Prayer is about honesty with God.Prayer- and more specifically, lament-  is, during bad times, our coming out with our grittiness and ugliness and opening up to God about who we really are and how our life feels. Lamenting is  an intimate act of devotion that opens up our hearts and minds to God’s healing and life-giving work. Lamenting prayer promises not just a “peak” of light, but the light of God. 

Lament. Call out. Share your heart with God and trusted human beings. (Remember- you have an army of us at All Saints’!) Jesus laments when he experiences the darkness of abandonment and physical, spiritual and psychological pain and suffering. Holy week comes to its culmination in the moment of darkness Jesus experienced on the cross.

Remember, friends, that  resurrection follows his lament.

What that offers us is a beautiful pattern for how to live our lives in an often difficult world. We will have cause to lament. Yet, we are promised- that when we connect our darkness with God’s love, through the ear of a friend or through lament or prayer, resurrection will happen. 

Shalom-

Tim