I wrote this last night but was unable to post due to Internet connectivity issues…
Tonight, it is great to be sitting here on the green couch with my legs propped up on the hexagon end-table. This weekend has been a bit of whirlwind and it is nice to relax for a few moments of reflection.
Last Wednesday, I was out running in the morning. I left the house around 6:30 and headed out into the darkness. However, it was quite different than previous morning excursions. The temperature had dropped significantly and the coolness wrapped up my body. I could see my breath for the first time this fall. Yet, the coolness felt refreshing as the perspiration started to come forth from the exertion. I passed fields of corn and soybeans and inhaled the richness of harvest-time. Into the fifth mile, the rain started to pellet my exposed face and legs with pins of cold water. Throughout this run, I attempted to pray. Like so many other times, the words did not seem to flow so I prayed the Lord’s Prayer.
“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done,
On Earth as it is in Heaven.”
This portion of the prayer really seemed to hit home as my body was overwhelmed by the sensory experience of this run.
It is all about Jesus and His Resurrection.
Restoration.
Renewal.
Resurrection.
In our common way of talking about when someone dies, we talk about them going to Heaven. We talk about them escaping their worn out bodies. The relatively popular song, “I’ll Fly Away,” is filled with these allusions.
Yet, the empty tomb is a reminder that the body is not something that is just abandoned as trash. Why is this important to me? Well, it makes our existence here on Earth important and meaningful. We aren’t just living here temporarily so that we can abandon our bodies – and all the aches and pains – and whoosh, head off to Heaven.
However, this is what really started to make me think. The word body does not just include people bodies.
What about the body of Christ, the Church?
What about real persons living in communal bodies?
What about the planetary bodies, like the Earth?
Again, these are not just things that will go away into the dump heap. They are real and tangible and in need of ongoing resurrection. I think this is what Paul is trying to get at when he writes, “I die every day,” (I Corinth 15:31) because with death comes resurrection. Yet, It is not just about individual salvation and resurrection. Sachs writes in the Christian Vision of Humanity, “’My’ resurrection is not complete until the entire created world enters into its promised fullness.”
The run reminded me to be aware of the the resurrection that is going on around me – to be sensitive to the sights, the smells, the experiences - and to be a participant in this amazing endeavour as I anticipate the return of Jesus to Earth.
Tomorrow night, I hope to start sharing some examples of resurrection in action. Please feel free to contribute your observations and experiences!
1 comment:
I initially had nothing to share when I first read your post, but then during my prayertime yesterday, I remembered how starkly different my home was in Chicago than it is here in Mishawaka.
To me, it is a resurrection. In Chicago, I had a small studio apartment. Plenty of space for me, I had no schedule to live by. In a sense, I was completely free. In another sense, I was completely alone. Now I must get up at 6:00 if I want to be alone, and then I get 30 minutes of quiet followed by 30 minutes of various noises that children and adults make as they - sometimes happily, sometimes groggily - prepare breakfast. Then at 7:00 we all sing (sometimes), read scripture, and pray together. At the end of the day, it is assumed that I will be home for dinner, unless I let everyone know otherwise. Those are just 2 of my daily commitments to other people, but they illustrate the reality of Christ in the world, not of some loner that doesn't need or want anyone.
Don't get me wrong, Chicago allowed me to minister in many other ways. But my very home was a desert.
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