Easter Sunday 2026
Dearly beloved,
Every blessing in the risen Christ! This is a sign
given to the world that physical death is not the end. Most people live that
way though. This life is all there is, this world is all there is, and when
death comes, it’s all gone and nothing is left. Makes you wonder what salvation
might mean to them.
Some people who read the Bible are stuck in Revelation and can
only see a 2nd coming, an Armageddon; pain and suffering; and
finally The Lord comes in the clouds with trumpets and the dead rising. Where
are they rising from? From the ground, where they have been ‘resting’, as we
refer to with our ongoing use of the Latin RIP abbreviation. Though how that
actually happens is difficult. The body decays, so what exactly rises? The old
forms are no longer needed. In heaven, form changes, hence Jesus says they neither
marry nor give in marriage. No need for procreation. But the body has decayed,
the spirit is asleep/resting in peace, and then the same likeness awakens and
meets the Lord up in the clouds!? Cool!
But other scriptures say that upon death the spirit returns to God who
gave it.
What if the church fathers had decided not to include
Revelation in the Canon? How are we to
reconcile the many passages in biblical text that contradict each other? We
cannot.
I’ve never thought too much about Revelation and the 2nd
Coming. The presence and power of Jesus in the Comforter is more than enough 2nd
coming for me in this life. I have too many questions about what’s in the Canon
and what’s been left out and why. Some 30 years of Jesus’ life unaccounted for.
Seems like no one knew him, no one knew where he was, no one knew what he was
doing. But John was his cousin. But my research along these lines continues. Selective
canonicity, unavoidable witness. We’ll come to that soon enough.
The risen Christ is a challenge to all of us. The
Holy Saturday post remembered the strange experiences the disciples had with the
risen Christ Jesus. Great that all of that was retained in the Canon. But the tradition
continued with those uncomfortable truths to be celebrated once a year. So once
a year we celebrate the rising of the historical Jesus, the Christ. Beyond the
historical remembrance, where do we go? A lot of notions about church and
fellowship and growing in the spirit etc. So let us ask a basic question that
we all need to work with.
How does God speak to us?
Scripture? Possible. Just be careful about privatized
and intellectualized notions. On a personal side this can mean spiritual
insight, and very specifically. If that happens, go with it and look for what
lies ahead. The results will show you the difference between true insight, self-deception,
wishful thinking.
Dreams. God speaks through dreams, from Jacob’s
Ladder in the OT to Mary’s Joseph in the NT, but we have to distinguish what
dreams may come and what dreams are of creative fantasy. If we dream at all.
Some of us have bungee jumping dreams and say ah, its another life, you see.
And in it, I’m someone else! Cool; good for you. I’m more interested in how
that other life intersects with this one. Work on it. If you really seek
something, seek earnestly and see what happens. Never mind about asking someone
else about the interpretation of a dream. Work it out.
Insight. A sense of seeing, a hunch, a feeling,
something within you that sees what others do not and cannot and may not be something
you can always talk about with others. Understand how others understand
themselves. Then perhaps suggestions may not fall on deaf ears. Our country now
is a huge contradiction as the world watches. And most of it points to a very
negative direction. The spirit of God was never needed here as much as He is
needed now. And I don’t wish to talk about ‘spiritual advisors’. Ha. That’s
like D. H. Lawrence’s poem about Celia. If you know that one, you know what I
mean about that reality.
Signs. These are mostly cultural, ethnic, communal and so forth. Again, a ‘sign’
might give rise to a hunch, a feeling, something within you that speaks to you
of a thing about to happen or a thing to which you must respond. Only you can
decide. And if the hunch works, then God is to be praised. Just be careful.
Conscience. All human beings know what hurts us and causes pain. A powerful tool God
uses with all of us, if we allow for it. It’s like that line from the song ‘Wooden
Ships’ that says ‘if you smile at me I will understand; because that is
something everybody does in the same…… language’. John Wesley was very good
about how God works through conscience and interpreted it well, crossing into non-Christian
distinctions in his time. Watching JC Superstar this weekend, I could only
smile at the white Jesus (he sang well) and the black Judas ( he too sang very
well! ) But JW’s claim was that God speaks to all of us thorough conscience,
and if we listen, we will learn.
Voice
seems common, especially in the OT, but is difficult. Easily perceived as such,
but God is spirit and does not, unless God chooses to, communicate in our
modulation. Story of the guy in the cave at Machpelah who encountered the
Spirit of God who sang to him and the beauty of the singing drove him quite
mad. Or the interesting pastor who claimed that God had apologized to him.
Examples and tests. When I first felt ‘called’ to the ministry, I didn’t like the
idea. But what was I to do with this new thing that would not go away? So I
tested it out. Do I really care enough for folk to be able to work with them
and be of some help? From that point already my ‘calling’ had this dimension of
being of help to others, not of ‘spreading the gospel’. Somehow, in being of
help, the gospel would spread by itself.
I
taught for several years and saw how care made a huge difference, and
especially what confidence could do. Thus the beginning for me of Stephen
King’s ‘ It don’t matter if you don’t believe in God, he believes in you!’ a quote
from his ‘The Stand’; i.e. believe in yourself!
And it worked. Still does. So I said ‘ok we can go from here’. And I
grew, and kept growing.
Intuition. Far from all of academic thinking; equally distant from all of emotion. A
state of being that comes when you are in the Kingdom and in the world but not
of it. Something we will work on as we go, for it has depth.
Cause and effect. Remember that verse when Moses wants to see the face of God
and God says no, you can’t but I’ll pass by and proclaim who I am and says ‘The
Lord, the Lord God…’ending the statement after lots of good things with a shot
of justice – punishing the guilty, right down to the childrens children, even
to the 3rd snd 4th generations, for the sins of the parents.
The New Testament, apart from the gospels, is a lot of contextual and
discussive history. The Old Testament gives a great deal of event detail that
shows how God works in our lives. More on all this as we go. But this is why
forgiveness isn’t a Get Out Of Jail card. You fix what you did wrong as best as
you can or it will come back to you and your children and your chidrens
children. Some simply say karma, but it is what it is. And the forgiven sinner approach?
Good line to make converts, no? Forgiveness is real, but repentance is not a
statement you make as much as to resolve whatever wrong you have done or are
doing. Sorry. It is what it is.
This is why Jesus says repent ye, and believe the gospel – the good news
that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Be careful how the gospel message has shifted in
its emphasis and presentation so that it becomes privatized and all you need is
to say I believe in Jesus. The gospel of Jesus cannot be separated from the
good news of the Kingdom of God. 2 sides of the same coin. Can’t have one
without the other. The 2 greatest Commandments refer to Personal Holiness and Social
Holiness. Privatize the Gospel and the Kingdom becomes a figure of speech and
faith in Jesus a private affair.
Jesus was not saying anything new. His message about the Kingdom fulfils
all that is said in the Old Testament.
New
Christians, however, often begin biblical familiarity by starting with the
Gospels and the New Testament and that does not fully portray all that Jesus is
about. Hence, Jacob’s Ladder begins at the beginiing.
Not,
‘Well, its my faith and what I believe is what it is. Doesn’t mean that I have
to get involved in calling out differences between right and wrong when things
go bad or people get hurt. Not my thing.’ Ah, but the Kingdom says different,
and calls us all to be Good Samaritans or Elijahs in times of an Ahab, whenever!
Not a call to arms, but a call to truth! How all this has come about will
constitute our work for much of this year; when, where, and how.
Our
next step is with the reality of the false white gospel - just say ‘I believe’;
or ‘just feel that you believe.’ Nope.
That’s just how new Christians are easily started off. Or at least, they think
so, and then go on to manifest nothing new in their lives except a ‘stated
identity’ and predictable patterns of behaviour. Insufficient to just say ‘I
believe in Jesus and have said so’ etc. Much more than that is asked. And it is
asked now. Have this receptive state of mind which precedes the experience of
the Kingdom in your life and allows you to enter. Have as much faith as a mustard
seed and if it is genuine, you will get in. Staying in means adopting a new way
of life. If you don’t, you can wear fancy clothes and have money, but anything
that money cannot buy is outside of your purview. A believer is a Kingdom experiencer.
Not a statement sayer. But one who has the experience of the Kingdom and is
enabled to change accordingly.
Easter
is an open invitation to all. You all know the story. I don’t need to repeat
the history of it. Believe, and run with it. Know the gospels, for they carry
the seeds of truth about Jesus. Sort them out slowly, and may we each find the
blessing that we seek. Until next week,
The Lord bless you
and keep you;
The Lord make His
face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you;
The Lord lift up
His countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen.
G.
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