Passport to Life

When was the last time you looked at your driver's license or your passport? Or if you don't have one of these, ask to look at a friend's or parent's. The last time I got my photo taken, it was taken with strict instructions.  Don't smile. Look up. No glasses. Get your hair off your face. Then the bright flash seems to suck all the color our of your face and the results are ghastly. Pale, dull, emotionless blank look that in all honesty looks way older than you actually are. Boring and lifeless.

I imagine that's how Mary Magdalene and the other women looked when they hurried to the tomb that first Easter Sunday. Shocked and maybe even traumatized by the experiences of Good Friday, they would have been going through the motions, numb and empty. Their faces blank, putting one foot in front of the other, doing the traditional mourning rituals that were a part of their culture and religion. Trying to organize the details of what to do next. The community was in turmoil, and rather than a cohesive group looking to a leader to guide all their decisions, they had no one to fall back on. Did James and John make plans to rejoin their dad's fishing business? Did Matthew think about going back to his job of despised tax collector? Would Mary and Martha have felt trapped back into a life where they would only be allowed to cook and clean and never sit with the men as equals? Would Lazarus have thought about going back into his tomb and never dream of coming out again? Would the Samaritan woman plan to go back to her well and her village, doomed to go from one man to the next as she used to, or the man born blind wish he could close his eyes to the pain he saw in the faces of his new friends?

At times of terrible pain, we can go into such a state of numbness, and many of us can relate. Our days feel meaningless and empty. We slip into states of apathy where even getting out of bed seems too onerous. Now in the days of Jesus, life was far shorter and folks might have been more prosaic than we are with our modern medicine and hygiene, we don't know for sure. But even though Jesus tried to prepare his followers, they hadn't listened, they rejected what they heard as gloom and doom nonsense. So Good Friday would have been a real shock to them all.

It also would have been a time of great guilt and shame for the men who had all either run away or denied their connection to Jesus. The women didn't run, but witnessing the ordeal must have been dreadful.  The United Church’s Song of Faith describes it this way, “Because his witness to love was threatening, those exercising power sought to silence Jesus. He suffered abandonment and betrayal, state-sanctioned torture and execution. He was crucified.” It could have become the stuff of nightmares.

The historian Josephus, writing his book for the Roman Empire of the history of his Jewish country wrote that Jesus was executed. This we know is fact. Jesus was real and he was killed in the most public and shameful way possible, on a hill that could be seen for miles, nearly naked in a culture that treasured modesty, and slowly as a traitor, to remind other potential rebels never to question authority.

That should have been the end of the story. This Roman execution should have snuffed out their small movement before it had a chance. End of story. Except it wasn't. The morning when the women came to the tomb, the one thing they weren't expecting was that it would be empty.

Death was not the last word. Now, there are a lot of theories and explanations trying to debunk the resurrection.  Those theories started from day one, trying to discredit Christianity.  Over and over, the detractors attacked, mocked, belittled and even tortured people believing in a Risen Christ.  The Roman Empire and modern Communists alike made it illegal.  Atheists like Richard Dawkins and Carl Sagan wrote book after book ridiculing the Easter Story, and they expected their scientific debunking to end Christianity and all other faiths.  Their motives were sound, they wanted to end violence and religious wars.  But often religious wars are using people’s faith to manipulate and convince people that war is necessary, it isn’t because religion itself is warlike.  Interestingly enough, even with atheists and countries declaring faith illegal, a research project found that the only faith shrinking in 2026 was Buddhism.  Christianity grew by 5%.  Rather like the Monty Python knight, Christians can claim that “I’m not dead yet!”

The truth is that a stolen body can’t inspire a spiritual revolution, a lie can’t inspire people to come together and risk their lives to talk about teachings of respect, compassion and faith.  A scam doesn’t inspire quiet resistance to tyrants, a plot doesn’t embolden people to protest against discrimination.  The Resurrection story has inspired people for centuries.  Without it, William Wilberforce wouldn’t have worked to end the Slave Trade, Charles Dickons wouldn’t have written about the oppression of impoverished children which inspired the establishment of public schools as a human right, monks and nuns wouldn’t have built hospitals and hospices, and people like Martin Luther King would not have preached equal rights even at the risk of their own lives. 

Easter, like God, is Holy Mystery, beyond complete knowledge, above perfect description.  It inspires us to love our neighbors, love ourselves and love that holy mystery whatever we name it.  Easter helps us work in hope for a better world.  Easter brings people to life, giving them purpose and a vision.  We become more than our passport or driver’s licence photos; we come to life.  Easter inspires us to deeper spirituality, both in our daily lives and in community here.  Easter inspires us to engage in learning more about our faith and our world so that we can practice bold discipleship.  Easter inspires us to also work daringly for justice, whether it’s joining in protest rallies, voting in elections or sending e-mails and phone calls to people who need to hear that we believe in human rights and equality for all.  Easter empowers us to speak against racism, homophobia or discrimination.  Easter is the ultimate “No Tyrants” event, not started by Jesus, or the disciples, but started by Holy Mystery itself. Our Song of Faith says, “in love, the one eternal God raised Jesus from death, turning sorrow into joy, despair into hope.  We sing of Jesus raised from the dead. We sing hallelujah.  

Today, let us choose to have the mystery of Easter, however we understand it, inspire us to continue the work for justice and human dignity that Jesus started so long ago.  Because the empty tomb didn’t stop the followers of Jesus back when they knew what Herod and Pilate did, and they followed Jesus anyway.  Not because he was a passport to power or wealth, but because he was a passport to community, love and abundant life.  Thank God for this passport we have that is the Risen Christ.  Christ has risen, Halleluiah!

Checking the Polling Numbers

Doesn't today's scripture sound like Jesus was doing a post-debate poll of how his message was going down?  He was trying to find out what the crowds at his rallies thought of him.  Let's check out the undecided listener, let's do some number crunching, let's do a survey and see how our messaging is landing, and if it's making any impact on the folks who are sitting on the fence.

Not too much different than an episode of the West Wing where everyone is wondering about approval ratings and spin doctoring. Is the message getting heard?

For Jesus, the core question he wanted his consultants to ask was 'Who do people say that I am?" He wanted to know if people thought he was the equivalent of a demented cat lady or racist convicted felon. The disciples didn't know those terms of course, but responded with what they heard, prophet, famous teacher, reincarnated baptizer and so forth. Even when Peter came up with the answer Jesus was looking for, Jesus challenged his interpretation of that title. It would be like Jesus saying to us, "it's all well and good to call me your Premier or Prime Minister but I'm going to be living under a bridge, picking bottles so I can buy food, and I'll get arrested on a picket line and stabbed to death in a homeless encampment riot. Wait! What kind of Prime Minister does that?

No wonder Peter challenged him.  What is the point of public opinion declaring that Jesus was an influential person, a political and theological expert, if he was going to use such a ridiculous campaign strategy. It was ridiculous! In fact, in some ways the whole claim he made sounded ridiculous.  Die and rise again on the third day.  What kind of politician would center their campaign on that? Even Paul said that this message sounded foolish.

C. S. Lewis once wrote, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher. He'd be either a lunatic on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse."

I don't know about you, but I'm not keen on believing in someone who is delusional. I want to follow someone who shows clear leadership, deep compassion, and determination to consider the welfare of all people, not just his cronies or wealthy friends.

People today are looking for leaders they can trust and don't know where to find such leaders. Some are so cynical that they don't believe that anyone cares at all about them. They have given up on humanity. They've been hurt too much, failed too often or seen their dreams crushed too much. One person claims that 'apatheism’ is the biggest challenge facing Christianity today. Not atheism, not believing in any God, or agnostics who are not sure, but apatheists who are apathetic to the question of whether there is a God or not. Why bother to care? They might be assuming that Christianity is all about saving yourself from Hell and that they know they're going there so what's the point in trying or caring?

Jesus wanted to turn that apathetic attitude upside down. He said that those who tried to save their lives would lose them, and those who lost their lives would find them.  People who only think of themselves, "me, me, me" instead of "you, you, you" or even "us, us, us" would find that they did not have a life of significance or impact. People who go beyond their egotistical attitudes and opinions, who love and serve others, who work towards the common good, they're the ones who will make an impact bigger than they could foresee.

The question Jesus asked his disciples so many centuries ago is still important today. Again, Lewis wrote, "You must make your choice: either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher."

This world has a lot of people promising all kinds of nonsense.  No wonder so many are experiencing apathy, depression, and anxiety.  Teachers talk about a mental health crisis.  Estimates are that 1 in four adults are wrestling with depression, one in five have thought about suicide, and 32% of people are addicted to some kind of substance.  Apathy is a way of letting ourselves off the hook, a way of telling ourselves that there’s nothing we can do to change the world.  We are stuck and life sucks, end of discussion.

Jesus taught a different way.  Those who are trying to be safe, trying to control their world, will spiral down into despair and apathy.  Those who try the way of Jesus, will let go of their own lives, and look at what they can do to help others.  People have found when they start looking for opportunities to help, it makes a world of difference.  Ask any grateful member of AA or Al Anon, and they will tell you the importance of service in their recovery.  Jesus calls us to consider who he is for us too.  Maybe we too have struggled to find hope, maybe we too have struggled to find someone to trust, who cares about us, and who helps inspire us to do better and be better.  Maybe when we answer that big question, “Who do you say that I am?”, our stories will inspire us anew.  May we find the strength to share our stories with those who need to hear them.  Amen.

Got a lovely bunch of Coconuts, anybody?

If you have ever gone wandering along a tropical beach with palm trees, you may have been told not to sit under a palm tree because more people die from falling coconuts than from shark attacks.  That, however, is an urban legend and an exaggeration.  But sitting under a coconut tree can be hazardous to your health.  No one knows the time or day when a coconut falls, and the comparison to sharks started when an emergency room doctor complained about all the injuries he was treating due to falling coconuts.  It created so much kerfuffle that someone wrote a very cheeky song called “Killed by a Coconut”, which is almost as silly as the song “I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” which if you don’t know it is very similar to “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas”. 

Sometimes I feel like hope is just as silly as singing about coconuts and hippopotami.  Our scripture readings don’t seem very hopeful either.  And the news these days discourages a hopeful attitude. Who can be hopeful when their power is off because of bombs or they’ve lost family and friends in a nightclub shooting or they have had to wait for an ambulance for hours and then wait in a hospital for a doctor for more hours.

It’s easy to lapse into apathy when our lives are full of such stories.   It’s also easy to fall into the opposite extreme, anxiety.  Will this time be when the flood comes, or the heat wave or the hurricane or the forest fire? Or just assume that every day will be filled with disaster and there’s nothing that we can do to prevent it?  A third alternative is cynicism, the assumption that nothing good will ever happen.  A lot of conversations start with words like “Don’t”, “I can’t”, “We mustn’t”, “That won’t work”, “We tried that once”, or “no”.  Like a tire that has a slow leak, cynical words can completely deflate us until we feel flat, apathetic, cynical or anxious.  If we internalize all those words, that can lead to serious depression.  The negative, cynical, apathetic, anxious thoughts can become self-destructive mental illness that requires professional help to unravel.  There were times when I needed to reach out to counsellors to improve my mental health, but for many in our world, this is a constant struggle that needs medical and professional support.  Which is in short supply these days.  Social workers are facing the same challenges this year as doctors and nurses did during covid, a rise in demand and in workload.  Burn out, retirement, and a health system that does not fund mental health programs consistently or predictably mean uncertainty for both professionals and those who need the programs.  PRAAC, who raises money to fund thrive workers to help people experiencing family violence, depends on government support as well as our fundraising and organizations like Together Talk have to apply for grants to provide free mental health care on one hand but also struggle to get the message out to people that the service exists and it’s okay to ask for help.  People who have hope are more likely to ask for that help than those without hope.

At our yarn circle we asked the question, “what is hope and how does it differ from wishful thinking?”  Wishful thinking is imagining things will work out the way I want without any effort on my part and may involve an exaggerated hope or fanciful thought.  A ten year old can wish for a real live pet unicorn all they want, but they are not going to get one.  A twenty year old can work in a stable to earn enough to buy a pony that they call ‘Unicorn’ and dress it up with a pointed hat.  One is wishful thinking, based in fantasy, the other is based in the real world and with hard work will come true.  But even better than these two examples is the twenty year old taking her pony to the Stollery Hospital and giving sick children rides on her ‘unicorn’.  That is Christian hope.  It comes from thinking of others, and being alert to opportunities to serve our neighbors. 

When Christ said ‘stay ready and alert for no one knows the day’, that is hope – alert and brave and focused on a better future.  Not afraid to face the reality of shoveling manure to get a unicorn.  And Christian hope is also about being honest about the challenges that life throws at us.  We will see disasters, but we are to keep looking and preparing for Christ’s coming. 

The challenge is discerning what is wishful thinking and what is hopeful thinking.  After several days of rain this week, rain in Alberta in November, global warming is becoming more tangible.  Some think it’s wishful thinking to imagine lowering our dependence on petroleum products, and slam environmentalists for such ideas.  Better do nothing than make a baby step towards change.  Yet one person’s wishful thinking is another person’s hope.  It was wishful thinking to imagine the USSR would stop being communist, wishful thinking that the Berlin Wall would come down, wishful thinking that Northern Ireland would be at peace, that apartheid in South Africa would end, that the slave trade would end or that we could have a truth and reconciliation process in Canada, to name a few.  One person’s wishful thinking is another person’s call to hope.  One person may see a coconut as a dangerous weapon, but another person will see it as a fruit that despite its hard shell and brown exterior, is worth the effort of cracking open.  And when we crack that hard nut, we too can be nourished in ways that inspire hope in others.  We are called to choose hope and to work for hope.  Researchers at the U of A in Edmonton are finding that hope impacts our physical health as well as our mental health.  Hope can heal relationships and the world with God being our helper.  Thanks be to God for this wonderful gift!