CANADIAN LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF EFFORTS IN HAITI

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:

Here is a recent video of CLWR relief efforts in Haiti:

http://www.clwr.org

CHRIST IS RISEN

                                   

In this year of 2010, the church began its journey of Lent 40 days ago. 40 days ago this journey of prayer and contemplation began. Our cycle of worship brought us to Holy Week, brought us to recreate those dramatic events which occurred in Jerusalem two thousand years ago. Last Sunday we waved palm branches, and welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem. On Thursday, we commemorated the Last Supper, and on Friday, on Friday, we journeyed through the death of Jesus, we recreated, reenacted the moment humanity crucified Jesus, and put he who was sinless to death.

The first good Friday certainly would not have seemed all that good to the disciples of Jesus. On that first good Friday it would seem that death had one, that evil was victorious, that everything Jesus said about himself, about the coming kingdom, about the hope and peace that surpasses all human understanding was a lie—or some kind of odd delusion. That was a dark day—a dark day in the eyes of the sheep who were now without a shepherd, or so it seemed. But the reality was that God has a greater plan.  But who would have seen it? Who would have seen that through the worst day, God was brining about the best day—that the world was journeying through the darkest valley to get to the best  and brightest place, that the promised land was two days over the horizon. Three days after he was killed, Jesus arrived, was the first to reach the  promised land. And having reached it, Jesus, the first fruits of a new creation, has made a place for us there.

Where is this promised land? Where is this place? Yes, it is a place of the future, it is the New Jerusalam so vividly described by the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, This is the kingdom of heaven where there shall be no more weeping or cries of distress. This is the new heaven and new earth, where the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.

The former things. All adults, and too many children,alive today are familiar with those former things, either through witness or direct experience, and all will have to face the most hideous of those former things, which is death—the last enemy to be destroyed. But this reality of the promised land is difficult, if not impossible, for many to see. For many, reality is more or less a good Friday world. For many people who live out there lives, good Friday, and its horizon of bleak finality is the everyday space they move and find themselves. The evening  news, the newspapers, the and the parade of horror which flashes across the television screen only reinforce this perspective.—as do the history books. They do not see God’s great plan for a glorious future free of death, and suffering, and pain, and oppression, where infants live but a few days, and old people do not live out their lifetimes. Many do not see that God has established an everlasting kingdom, that God is victorious—that God has defeated death, and given the gift of everlasting life.

            On that first morning, on that first Sunday after his son’s death, God  was victorious, and the kingdom had been established, the promised land was a reality. It certainly would have been the furthest thing on the minds of the women who had visited Jesus’ tomb to prepare his body for burial. They were firmly expecting a corpse. And why not? That’s the reality of living in a Good Friday world. But Jesus had told them otherwise. Jesus gave them a glimpse of that first morning horizon, had told them about the promised land—told them that the Son of man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again. He told them that. But they had forgotten. In the tragedy and the grief, and the hustle and bustle, and depression, and oppression of living in a Good Friday world, which moved into Saturday, they had forgotten.  But in that tomb, on that first morning, they were reminded--reminded by the men in dazzling clothes. “ Jesus told you. Jesus told you about his mighty act of deliverance, his new and ultimate Passover, and about the promised land.” Then they remembered, and when they remembered their vision was  radically and fundamentally altered.

Their perspective was changed forever. The two Marys, Joanna, and the other women raced back to tell the men—the very same men who had journeyed with Jesus for three years, the same men who sat at the feet of their Lord and heard his teaching. Their reaction? It must be an idle tale. In other words, “Don’t give us that baloney. You women are so full of beans that their spillingout of your ears.” The men were stuck. They were stuck in a Good Friday world, in a limited reality.

But something stirred. Something stirred in Peter. Remember Peter? He was perhaps the closest to Jesus. He was the one who pledged his absolute loyalty to Jesus, the one who drew his sword in the garden of Gesemene. He was also the one who denied, denied that he had ever known his master.  What did this empty tomb news mean to him? What did all of this  signify to Peter? The text doesn’t tell us. But there was much heaviness in his heart, and a yearning for more, much more than there was—a deep longing to transcend, to move through this guilt laden veil of tears, a deep desire to move out of the Good Friday world. So he ran, and he saw. He saw the linen clothes lying there. And there he saw a glimpse, he saw evidence, he witnessed an indicator that maybe, just maybe, there was something over the horizon. In a few days he would encounter the resurrected Christ face to face, and know with absolute certainty, that deliverance had been accomplished, that the good Friday world had been defeated, and that Jesus had arrived to the promised land.

Through the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s glorious vision for the future had been realized. The promised land prophesized in Isaiah has been established. Christ is King, and Christ reigns.

 Hold on a second, you might ask? What about all of that ugly stuff?—all of the pain, all of the suffering that sis still a reality. Don’t we really still live in a Good Friday World?

The Kingdom of God has been established, and all has been accomplished through the life death, and resurrection of Christ. The Kingdom has been established, but not yet in its fullness. The realities of Good Friday are a real and present reality. But they are defeated, and lost their grip on our destiny.  They ultimately have no power-- even while from our perspective, they may seem to.  It may seem like we live in a Good Friday World. But remember this, Jesus has brought us to the promised land, and that promised land is his kingdom, and the kingdom is real and present reality in the here and now. Yes, the promised land is our future destiny, but also our present reality. God has given gathered us together to live in this promised land reality, to live in the hope of his kingdom. And this hope is not as the world defines it, a kind of wishful thinking for better things. It is a bold trust in God’s ultimate vision, both in the future and in the present.

When I was interning in Prince Rupert two years ago, I had witnessed many examples of this bold trust of people who, by the power of God were able to see past the things of the Good Friday world and live in realities of the promised land.  I remember visiting a woman who lived lived in a trailer, in a place of incredible natural beauty. I had been asked by her friend to pay her a visit. I was told that she was very unhealthy, and didn’t have to many years left. I made this visit a priority during one of my bi-monthly visits. I remember walking over muddy gravel and reaching her trailer. I remember walking up wooden steps and not knowing  who or what to expect. I knocked. A voice inside told me to come in. I pushed the creaky door open. The voice inside told me not to worry about my shoes, and to grab a seat. Across from me sat a middle aged woman. To her nose were attached clear plastic tubes, which were connected to oxygen tanks. She reached out her hand and introduced herself. She invited me to sit down and soon told me that she was going blind, and was suffering from emphysema. This didn’t stop her from smoking. Over the course of the next hour she talked about many things, about her life, about the mistakes she made, and that she new she would not live long. But one thing which was not a mistake was moving to this beautiful land. She told me about her belief in God, and about how God had created all of this beautiful landscape for us humans to enjoy. And though she was losing her eyesight, she could still make it out—this wonderous  beauty which defies all description. Somehow the beauty of God’s creation was reaching her, was reaching through and touching her. The reality of God’s kingdom was shining through to her, were she was. She expressed gratitude to God for this beautiful life. She thanked God for bringing her through and showing her the promised land.  She thanked God for delivering her from a troubled past, and showing her a new reality—showing her a glimpse of the promised land.

As I walked away from her trailer, I contemplated this meeting, and realized what it was. It was an experience of the Kingdom in the present, a meeting in the promised  land, which for that day, that moment, for the two of us was in Northern BC. 

When two or more or gathered in the name of Christ, it is always an experience of the kingdom in the present, because he has promised to be there, and where He is, his kingdom is also. He is with us today, he is with us here now, speaking his promise, feeding us his word, and nourishing our faith, our faith in Him and his everlasting kingdom, his everlasting reign in the promised land. Amen.