"RESURRECTION VISION"

 “RESURRECTION VISION”

We’re still in the church season of the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and I want to dwell here one more time before I move on.  I saw a clip of Stacey Abrams’ engagement with Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana last week, when she testified in a Senate hearing on the issue of voting rights.  In this exchange, Stacey took Senator Kennedy to political school, as he tried to use his good ol’ boy white Southern charm to entrap her on the repressive changes that the state of Georgia (and other states)  made to voting rights.  These changes were made by the grandchildren of the neo-slavery Democrats (now called Republicans but still the same white, Southern mind set).  If you haven’t seen this exchange, please give it a look.  Here’s a link to it: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/gop-senator-probably-regrets-testing-stacey-abrams-georgia-law-n1264924?cid=sm_npd_ms_fb_ma&fbclid=IwAR0Mr7mnaBHI8PJB8TCIxWpokH-y0qz0sHX1bCvI8k2BoAwchB_m4bxk4v0

Stacey’s nimbleness and skill in this exchange reminded me of the Resurrection vision that Jesus of Nazareth offers to all of us.  You already know that I am a Stacey fan – she preached several times at Oakhurst and gave powerful testimony at my retirement – but I am not implying that she is Jesus.  I am saying, however, that she has caught the vision that the risen Jesus brought with him – a vision that is available to his followers in every age.

In thinking about the Resurrection, let us  remember that everyone in the Gospel accounts had trouble recognizing the risen Jesus, because they all were captured by the power of death.  In Matthew, there are still some who doubt even when the risen Jesus gathers them to send them out in his name.  In Mark, the women witnesses are terrified at the thought of the risen Jesus, and Mark’s gospel ends with the women telling no one.  In Luke, the women finally share the story, but the men do not believe them because everyone knows that women get hysterical!  In John, Mary Magdalene cannot recognize the risen Jesus, even though he is standing right in front of her and talking with her.  And, of course, John is the gospel of “doubting Thomas.” 

  The first followers had trouble recognizing the risen Jesus because their vision was truncated.  They thought that the Roman Empire was the center of the world and gave them their self-definition.  Jesus came to free the captives in every age.  He and his people were oppressed, accepting that their primary definition was property of the Roman Empire, letting Rome tell them who they were and what they could envision for themselves. Jesus wanted to give them (and us) a vision of being able to live our lives with a sense that we are children of God, not of Rome or of white supremacy or of capitalism.

    All four of the Gospel accounts emphasize how difficult it is to grasp and to believe the Resurrection vision.  In one way or another, we are all captured by death, but Jesus has come to set us free and to give us a new vision of ourselves and of life.  This is one of Stacey Abrams’ great gifts to us.  She is an astute politician – she sees the world realistically but she dreams of and sees a new vision.  In the midst of death and chaos, she brings life and hope.  She asks to see reality but to dream of changing that reality.  She lives in “what is,” but she also asks to think of what could be.  

    Stacey has Resurrection vision, and she invites us into that vision and that dream.  So, yes, while Georgia and other states are working to repress the vote, Stacey is living and articulating a vision for expanding the vote.  She is realistic but also driven by a vision of the risen Jesus.  Like the ancestors – John Lewis, Ella Baker, Martin Luther King, Septima Clark  and many others – she is proclaiming “I have seen the Lord!”  She invites us into that Resurrection vision of new life. Let us find our places and get to work.

"EARTH DAY VISITATION"

 

“EARTH DAY VISITATION”

I remember when Earth Day was officially recognized in 1970.  It had been semi-officially started in 1969 by Iowa native and later Californian John McConnell.  Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin got it going nationally by calling for a country-wide teach-in on the environment on April, 22, 1970, using the model of the teach-ins against the Vietnam war.  It caught on, and I remember that Caroline and I started observing it in worship in our church in Norfolk in 1976.  As we all know now, we are at a crucial point in the earth’s life, and many think  that it is already too late.  I prefer to think that we still have a chance, and in that mindset, I’m sharing a poem by Mary Oliver called “The Measure.”  As I noted last week, Oliver is a powerful poet of life and creation, and this poem – for me – describes our current situation.  Oliver has many powerful poems about earth life – if you’re not familiar with them, find “The Sun” and “The Summer Day” as starting points.

“THE MEASURE”

I stopped the car and ran back and across the road

and picked up the box turtle, who only

hissed and withdrew herself into her pretty shell.

Well, goodness, it was early in the morning, not too much traffic.

Rather an adventure than a risk, and anyway

who would give aid to such a shy citizen?

Who wouldn't complete the journey for it, taking it of course

in the direction of its desire: a pinewoods

where, as I learned, the blueberries ripen early.

Probably she had thought, in the middle of the night-

Ah, it's time.

Sometimes I think our own lives are watched over like that.

Out of the mystery of the hours and the days

Something says-Let's give this one a little trial.

Let's say, put a turtle in the road she's traveling on, and

in a hurry.

Let's see how her life is measuring up, that lucky girl.

So much happiness, so much good fortune. Ah, it's time.

Mary Oliver

"THE STUFF OF RESURRECTION"

 ‘THE STUFF OF RESURRECTION”

In this season of the Resurrection, I’m sharing a poem that has been one of my mainstays over the years, a poem by Wendell Berry, first published in 1967 in “The Country of Marriage.”  It’s a bit dated and also very male oriented, but also very contemporary.  In my readings, I often think of Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver as the male and female sides of one Poet, both very powerful in their own way.

"Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front"

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,

vacation with pay. Want more

of everything ready-made. Be afraid

to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.

Not even your future will be a mystery

any more. Your mind will be punched in a card

and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something

they will call you. When they want you

to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something

that won’t compute. Love the Lord.

Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace

the flag. Hope to live in that free

republic for which it stands.

Give your approval to all you cannot

understand. Praise ignorance, for what man

has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest

that you did not plant,

that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested

when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus

that will build under the trees

every thousand years.

Listen to carrion – put your ear

close, and hear the faint chattering

of the songs that are to come.

Expect the end of the world. Laugh.

Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful

though you have considered all the facts.

So long as women do not go cheap

for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy

a woman satisfied to bear a child?

Will this disturb the sleep

of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.

Lie down in the shade. Rest your head

in her lap. Swear allegiance

to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos

can predict the motions of your mind,

lose it. Leave it as a sign

to mark the false trail, the way

you didn’t go. Be like the fox

who makes more tracks than necessary,

some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.

~Wendell Berry

"THE STUFF OF RECOGNITION"

 “THE STUFF OF RECOGNITION”

We are in the season of the Resurrection, though the church doesn’t quite know what to do with the doctrine.  We often use it as a guarantor of eternal life, but beyond that it is often embarrassing and puzzling.  We’re much more comfortable with the Cross, because we know very well the struggles of our own hearts, struggles that lead us to hurt ourselves and hurt others.  On this particular date for Easter, April 4, all of us in American culture remember that date for a different reason:  the date when Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis.  

    I was listening to a talk radio show on Good Friday, as they discussed what to do with the Resurrection.  They acknowledged that most of right-wing theology is built on the Cross and on the Atonement - a hating and offended God killing a loving and innocent Jesus instead of us.  We believe in violence, including the “redemptive violence” attributed to the Cross.  The talk show acknowledged that the Resurrection, one of the most important events in human history, is given very little energy in theology, no matter the ideology or the seminary.  

    The radio hosts wondered why this had happened, and they seemed to be truly puzzled.  Being the humble guy that I am, I can actually answer the question.  We give such little energy to the Resurrection because we interpret it as pertaining to individuals only – it simply means that there is life after death.  In going down this road, we miss the radical nature of the Resurrection:  the stuff of recognition.  All four gospels indicate that the primary witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth have trouble recognizing the risen Jesus.  They have trouble recognizing him because his resurrection shatters the ideas of their lives and asks them to consider a totally new vision. The new vision is what Jesus sought to do in his earthly ministry, to bring us life in the midst of death, to help us to find a new way of living our lives.  Jesus came to set the oppressed free.  He lived his life not as a middle class white man but rather as an oppressed Black man.  What he came to teach his followers (including us) was a new way of seeing ourselves and seeing others.  He wanted them to find life.

    In this sense, the Resurrection is both a literal truth and a metaphorical truth.  It is a unique historical event designed to give us the stuff of recognition, to tell us that at the center of life is a voice and a power of love and justice.  In light of this event, we are called to live in a new vision of what it means to be a human being.  I have experienced this power again and again in my life, this stuff of recognition.  I have seen resurrection power as I came to understand my death-giving captivity to racism and white supremacy.  Like those first witnesses, it took me a long time to recognize the risen Jesus standing right in front of me.  I have seen this power in my coming to recognize my captivity to sexism, with its belief that men are superior and that women are property of men.  Of course, one of the great ironies is that the primary witnesses to the Resurrection are women.  Their testimony is preserved in the Bible because the stories are primal and true.  It is as if the risen Jesus is saying “In your face, sexism!  Here are the true witnesses, which you do not even recognize.”

     “Recognition” as the first of seven steps that I use in talking about how those of us classified as “white” can start coming to terms with our addiction to race.  The stuff of recognition is fundamental – we come to see life, to see ourselves, and to see the world in a whole new way.  That is the power of the Resurrection – it transformed the lives of the first disciples, and it can transform our lives.  Seen in this way, it is no wonder that the church seeks to diminish the idea of resurrection while giving energy to the violence of the Cross.  The Resurrection can change our lives, while the Cross reiterates our lives and our belief in redemptive violence.  To use Wendell Berry’s provocative term in his poetry, in this season, let us “practice resurrection.”