by Tom Sine
I am very excited to announce the release of my new book: Live Like You Give a Damn! Join the Changemaking Celebration In it I bring some very good news. God is raising up a new generation, largely outside the church, that is bring impressive change to the lives of our neighbors locally and globally by creating innovative forms of social enterprise and community empowerment. The even better news is that those of us within the church can join this changemaking celebration. We can discover creative new ways God can use our mustard seeds to make a more remarkable difference than we ever imagined possible.
In this book I offer practical ways that you can join those who are creating their best communities, their best world, and in the process their best lives. In fact, I hope to show you that in a world changing at warp speed, following Jesus is a “design opportunity.” It is not only an opportunity to design innovative ways to make a difference but also an opportunity to create lives with a difference, in the way of Jesus, that are simpler and more sustainable—and to throw better parties along the way. Why would anyone want to settle for less and miss the best?
Live Like You Give a Damn! Join the Changemaking Celebration is available for pre-order until April 16th through the MSA website for an amazing 40% discount. Make sure you order your copy now.
Follow Tom and what’s happening on the innovative edge
on his new blog: newchangemakers.com
on facebook: follow Tom Sine or join the new changemakers.
And join us in the changemaking celebration.
Slum by Nils Von Kalm
By Nils Von Kalm
God’s Gift to a Broken World
We live in a world of immense suffering, and whether we call ourselves Christian or not, we are often faced with the universal question of why such suffering occurs in a world which was made by a good and loving God.
At Easter we remember that when Jesus was dying on the cross, he also asked why, and then said “into your hands I place my spirit.” It was an act of trust that God is good despite what we see around us.
In our society we are bombarded with the message every day of our lives that life is found in having more. Gordon Gekko’s “greed is good” mantra from the heady days of the late 1980s is the philosophy we are encouraged to live by today. Yet study after study shows that having more material goods and money doesn’t make us any happier.
The American psychologist Martin Seligman has conducted research showing that the rate of depression in Western nations has increased tenfold since the Second World War ie. we now have ten times the amount of people who are depressed than we had seventy years ago.
On top of that, Brene Brown points out that we are the most in-debt, obese, addicted and medicated people in history. All this is during a period in which we have never been wealthier. Something is not adding up.
And if that is not enough, our affluent way of life is leading to a greater gap between rich and poor, as well as to the dreaded spectre of a changing climate. No wonder the author and pastor Brian McLaren calls our way of life the ‘suicide machine.’
It’s all depressingly bleak, and enough to drive you to despair. But thank God for Easter, when we remember that Jesus identifies with our pain and with our questions. But it’s more than that. If that is all he did, we wouldn’t have any lasting hope. In Jesus, God came to earth not only to die for our wrongs, but to reconcile all things to himself. Again though, if that is all there is, there still wouldn’t be any hope. The New Testament is open about this. The apostle Paul says that if Christ was not raised from death we are to be pitied more than anyone.
Christian faith lives or dies on the physical resurrection of Jesus as a historical event. If Jesus was not raised, then Christian faith is pointless, as death would not have been defeated and life is meaningless. But our joy and hope come from faith in Jesus, that as well as dying on Good Friday, he was raised on Sunday. As Nick Cave sings, death is not the end. And, as only he can, American preacher Tony Campolo adds, “it’s Friday but Sunday’s a-comin!”
Hope is alive. There is no line on the horizon; heaven and earth are slowly overlapping. There is no reason to despair and there is nothing to fear. The Christian message says that it is because of the resurrection of Jesus on that first Easter morning that we have hope that death will not triumph in the end. Life, justice, peace, hope and love will triumph. Nothing is surer.
Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we are shown how to live, we are offered forgiveness for our many wrongs, and all things are reconciled to God. All things. Our hearts, so we can be at peace with God; our society, so we can live at peace with each other; and the rest of the whole created order, so we can live at peace with it.
To the question of why God doesn’t seem to be doing anything about the suffering and pain in the world, we can assuredly say that God already has. Through the life of one man, we see a glimpse of the wonderful kingdom come; through the death of that one man on a dark Friday afternoon, we are offered forgiveness for our wrongs; and through the resurrection of that one unique man on the most wonderful Sunday morning in history, all things are made new.
One day everything will fit; it will all make sense. And it will all be because of Jesus. And we get to live this resurrection life here and now, working with God to renew the world, living out the compassion of Jesus, and standing in the tradition of the prophets to work for a world in which one day everything will be made complete. That is the hope of Easter. May you have a blessed one.
Sunset in Bergen by Ian Thomson2 used with permission
By Lynne Baab
Did you know that in many times and places in Christian history, Easter has been viewed as a season, not just a day? The Easter season goes from Easter Day to Pentecost Sunday (May 15 this year), a period of seven weeks. Because Jesus’ resurrection is such a huge, amazing, overwhelming, fantastic gift to us, focusing on it for seven weeks allows time to ponder many aspects of what we receive on Easter Day.
The liturgical color for the Easter season is white to reflect the holiness and purity of Jesus, which enabled him to die in our place. White also symbolizes light. Jesus submitted to the darkness of the grave, and Easter morning he came back into the light, and his own light was again revealed. Paintings of Jesus after the resurrection often show him surrounded by light.
What spiritual practices are appropriate in a season of light and joy? This is a season of feasting, not fasting. Celebrate joy and light in whatever ways you can. Ponder, journal or talk with others about the joyful events of Easter and what they mean for you. Here are some suggestions for spiritual practices for the Easter season:
- Practice thankfulness. Watch for God’s good gifts in your life and your loved one’s lives. Look for signs of Jesus’ resurrection life in events and people around you. Go out of your way to express gratitude and love to people who have cared for you. Pay attention to the small gifts of daily life, and thank God for them. To help you pay attention, consider starting (or re-starting) a thankfulness journal and commit to adding five items to the list each day. Or partner with others to talk through the things you’re thankful for every day. Be sure to pray your thanks as well.
- Focus on light. Watch for the word “light” in scriptures, praise songs, hymns and poetry. Write a poem or statement about the ways Jesus is your light, and ask for further light in specific areas of your life and in the lives of loved ones. Use various names for God and Jesus in breath prayers: “Lord Jesus Christ, light of the world, shine your light on me” (John 8:12). “Jesus, bright morning star, guide my steps” (Revelation 22:16). “Word of God, be the lamp to my feet and the light on my path” (Psalm 119:105). “Lord God, sun and shield, give me your light and protection” (Psalm 84:11). All of these prayers can be prayed for others as well as for yourself.
- Ponder the fact that Jesus has freed “those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death” (Hebrews 2:15). In what ways has Jesus freed you from that fear? In what ways would you like to experience more freedom? What do you think that might look like? Journal or talk with a friend about the role fear of death has played in your life. Pray your thanks, and pray for further growth in this area.
The seven-week Easter season nudges us to look at life through the lens of resurrection power. Maybe you’ll think of additional ways to do that.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
wrapped in light as with a garment (Psalm 104:1).
by Christine Sine
It is the day after Easter and I sit here in the glow of the resurrection, immersed in its joy and surrounded by its celebration. It is hard for us, with our foreknowledge of the events of Easter Sunday, to comprehend the incredible joy the women who came early to the tomb must have felt. They came with heavy hearts and eyes swollen and red with weeping but left with joy and dancing. Resurrection had broken into their lives.
Can you imagine Peter, coming to the tomb riddled with guilt because of his betrayal of Jesus. He too was surprised by resurrection, not just encountering the risen Christ, but seeing that new life emerge in himself as he wept tears of repentance and joy.
I can imagine, around them, spring bursting into bloom too, reminding these first disciples and a constant reminder to us that resurrection was always part of God’s plan from the beginning of time. Resurrection surprises us, but it never surprises God. The Easter season does not end with Easter Sunday however. And Easter does not end with the Easter Sunday. It extends until Pentecost and celebrates both the resurrection of Christ and also the many ways the resurrected Christ comes to meet us.
What is Your Response?
Sit for a few minutes breathing in and out quietly. Watch the video below. Reflect on your own experiences over the season of Easter. In what ways have you been surprised by resurrection? What new things are you aware of that are emerging into life? How does God ask you to nurture them into maturity in this ongoing Easter season?
Easter Sunday by Ana Lisa De Jong
It’s always amazing to me how each Resurrection Sunday I am affected anew, freshly struck with the wonder of Easter Sunday, as though I am standing there 2000 years ago, Jesus having just risen, and the tomb only empty a few hours. As though I have only just heard of Jesus meeting the disciples on the road to Emmaus, or showing the disciples the wounds in his side and palms. The story of Easter comes alive for me again as I re-enter it, and I think as Christians we share this special remembrance, but have our own unique ways of experiencing it. Yes, it becomes a very personal thing on Easter Sunday, our faith; despite our knowing that Christianity is a universal religion that we share, and though we may reflect with others during Holy Week, Easter Sunday is very much about the risen Lord and what it means to us as individuals. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth causes the knowledge to come upon us afresh, reminding us how Jesus’s ascension to heaven affects us personally, intimately, in terms of our journey and relationship with God. Knowing our lives without Jesus would never have been the same, we respond with rejoicing, cherishing the knowledge close to our hearts. Just like Mary in Luke 2:19 ‘treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart’, we after his death and celebrating his resurrection, ponder what his life means to us, and world around us; and we see everything afresh, in the light of the resurrection story.
A Love Story
It’s a love story.
As all good lovers know
there is a blueprint to follow,
for a love story
to ring true.
And Your love for us
is the love of a lifetime,
an eternity even,
from the beginning,
of time, to amen.
Your love for us
exists in every note,
of all the lovers’ ballads,
which man has ever yet
composed.
Oh yes, Your love, for us
lies woven in every story
ever told,
which spoke of daring,
and of loss,
and triumph after all.
Yes, Your love, for us
is in the hearts, of everyone –
of all who love
wholeheartedly,
only to have to go on alone.
For Your love, in truth
is lived out by us.
In all of us,
who behold Your story,
and allow it to determine our part.
From the cradle
to the cross;
from time’s beginning
to Your sacrifice,
and its final accomplishment.
We wait, and we trust
and we know just a little
of what it is to love
truly,
because you’ve shown us.
What it means to come and give up,
to lose what can’t be kept,
to gain what can’t be lost.
Ana Lisa de Jong
“all those who have waited with love for him to come again will receive a crown.”
2 Timothy 4:8
Poem by Andy Wade
By Andy Wade
Like a river flowing to the ocean only to be evaporated, return to the sky, and fall as rain, all of life has a cycle. For each one of us, indeed for the whole creation, there is life flowing from the hand of God, navigating the landscape of life, death, and returning to God.
Last week we explored darkness and death. What a depressing and terrifying thing if that’s the end of the story. But we know it’s not the end. This week as we prepare for Resurrection Sunday, we delve into the reality of a vacant cross and an empty tomb.
These two contrasting images, death and life, swirl in my mind. So much of life can be understood as a running away from or denying the reality of death. Yet creation testifies that there is much more. Like the seed buried in the earth only to spring to life and emerge as a beautiful flower, so it is with us. We will die, but we will also rise again! In the Eucharistic liturgy of the Episcopal Church these words are recited every Sunday:
Christ Has Died
Christ is Risen
Christ Will Come Again
Even in the cycle of God’s salvation there is death and new life.
However there is another side to all of this. God placed us in the garden to till and to keep it. We are both part of creation and the caretakers of creation. To us belongs the profound gift and holy responsibility of ensuring the whole creation continues its God-breathed cycle of praise and worship through the act of living and dying and living again.
But “we have done those things which we ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things which we ought to have done.” Having imposed our lustful appetites for more onto creation, we have disrupted the sacred dance of creation.
It is a constant challenge to hold together the mysteries of death and resurrection. Our tendency is to emphasize one over the other as we craft a theology that makes us a bit more comfortable.
Yet it is precisely this balance we must hold in our hands each day. Wherever we look we see signs of both life and death. And, if we are paying attention, we realize that our actions also reflect the power of life and death in the whole creation around us.
Expectantly I wait for resurrection. And as I wait I notice that creation is crying out. Creation testifies against me as it desperately attempts to gain my attention. “While you proclaim resurrection”, creation accuses, “you crucify the very nature that God formed into life and entrusted into your care!”
That may seem extreme to some. But the seasons of earth are a gift from God reminding us that we are all part of this dance of life, death, and resurrection. The song creation sings is a prophetic song of worship. Each fall it reminds us that we too are created, we too will die and return to the earth. But in the spring it reminds us that resurrection is always just around the corner. New life will break through the muck and mire, first a shoot, then a branch, and suddenly before we realize it, a tree so large the birds make their home there.
What are the everyday signs of resurrection around you?
What are the normal reminders of natural death that lead to resurrection?
Where do you see abnormal death around you? How might creation be warning you to change your ways?
This fireplace and cooking area (in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland) makes me think of the fire around which Peter and the crowd of people huddled as Jesus was “examined” by the High Priest in the wee hours of the night. Good Friday is a day where we are called to “walk with Jesus” as he moves through torture and harassment by the guards through a kangaroo court with Annas, Caiaphas, Herod, and even Pilate, finally to the cross and tomb.
Throughout my years of ministry, I have led or been a part of a variety of Good Friday observances. They have ranged from full-scale recreations of Jesus’ last day to a liturgy of hymns and scripture lessons. As Rowan Wyatt asks in the title of his article for Good Friday, “What’s so Good About Friday?”, I believe that we often are in such a hurry to get through Holy Week to Easter Sunday, that we forget to stop and ponder the significance of Holy Week.
I have to admit, as a pastor (and previously as an Air Force Chaplain) I find myself so caught up in all of the special worship services (from designing to leading them) that by the time Good Friday rolls around my mind is set on preparation for Easter Sunday. A perfect example of this is the fact that it is Monday of Holy Week and I am just now getting around to writing an article about Good Friday after first preparing the Bulletin for our Easter Sunday service at Presbyterian Community Church of the Rockies!
On Palm Sunday I encouraged myself and my congregation to be the voice of Christ for the voiceless or else Christ would call the very stones that make up the Rocky Mountain National Park to start speaking out. Can you imagine the noise that the Rocky Mountains could make? Wow! A part of that encouragement was to slow down and truly focus on what Holy Week and the last week of Jesus’ earthly life was truly all about. As we hiked in the Rockies on Sunday afternoon, I found myself having to slow my mind down. I guess that was a precursor to what we are called to do during Holy Week.
On Good Friday my challenge will be to truly walk with Jesus and the disciples and the women through that day. The challenge will be to do more than lip service to the day in our Ecumenical Good Friday Service in town. Perhaps I need to slow down and spend some time sitting quietly before the symbolic fire as Peter did and ask myself the simple question he was asked. “You are one of them aren’t you? Don’t you know him?” And if I know him, am I willing to speak boldly for the widows, orphans, and voiceless in his name? Or am I going to leave that job to the Rocks!
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