When I first began blogging one of the most difficult things for me was picking a name. A lot of that was mostly because I wanted the name to sound really cool. But part of it was also that I wanted the title to help me and whatever readers might stumble upon this blog to have a sense of context. I wanted the title to help frame whatever conversations might take place here.
As I have been greatly impacted by the Acts of the Apostles (in which the Risen Christ continues to do and teach what he began in the Gospels) and 1 Corinthians 15 (in which Paul reminds us that there are some matters of 1st importance, somethings that if we get wrong make it nearly impossible for us to live as followers of Christ in this world and among those is that Christ is Risen from the dead) as well as some of N. T. Wright's work (particularly Surprised by Hope) I guess you could say I'm kinda hung up on the Resurrection.
And I guess I feel in good company as Christians from the earliest days have been sure to gather together "early on the first day of the week" (Sunday, the morning on which Jesus rose from the dead) to worship the Risen Jesus. The amazing work that God did in their midsts (healing the sick, setting prisoners free, caring for the poor, widows, and aliens/strangers, uniting people across social, economic, and ethnic lines) was seen and understood in terms of what God began doing in Jesus' resurrection -- making ALL things NEW!
Over and over in my attempts at being a pastor to youth and young adults I am confronted with the fact that the resurrection of Christ has become a very peripheral matter. This is a problem because it is Christ's victory over sin and death that provides the very real and particular context in which we can begin to discover our way through the brokenness, pain, and confusion that can characterize so much of our lives.
It is the Risen Christ who stands as the clearest vision of God's hope and intention for us and for the whole world. Apart from the resurrection of Christ we simply do not have a full-bodied grasp of the Good News, but only a partial gospel that still leaves battle lines drawn, abusive uses of power in place, relationships fractured, and us as enemies of God -- in short, it leaves a world in which sin and death STILL get the last word.
So if God can work anything in me, let it be that I learn to see and act and speak and write "in light of the Resurrection" of Jesus. Amen.
Posts
Good stuff, Mr. Jeck.
ReplyDeleteAs far as blog title's of the universe go, yours wins.
I've made it about 1/2 way through "Surprised by Hope." I'm not sure why i stopped. Your post inspires me to pick it back up.
Thanks for the vote for "blog title of the universe!"
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed that book by Wright! I have been trying to think of a way to condense the material in a way that our college and maybe even some of our older high school students could get into it.... But it's just sooo long I don't know too many people who would make a commitment to a book that thick just cause I said it was worth it.