Easter 2014

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
- John 1:5

The Easter ham and lamb have been roasted, devoured, and the leftovers have been zip-locked and frozen. The chocolate bunnies and painted eggs have also been eaten, and the baskets put away in plastic bins to store safely. Networks have reverted back to regular serial programming, leaving behind epic tales which will not be broadcast until next spring.

Yet, if we take breathe in the reality of the moment, we must affirm that our story of salvation is one that we tell each and every time we gather in faith. Our weekly Sunday Holy Eucharist is a thanksgiving for the gift of life. Even our burial services are understood as Easter celebrations, as we remember the end of the power of Death and the assurance of our eternal life in Christ.

We must also recognize the power of this message – that in Christ all are made alive. This means that the power of salvation lies in Christ’s omnipotence. This means that the powers of this world are gelded by the eternal power of divine love. Whenever the powers of this present age try to diminish or replace Christ’s strength, they become scandals to that love.

Certainly secular temporal authorities are threatened by this Good News – if they cannot control the masses with threats physical well-being or with the attempt to negate things spiritual and eternal, then Christ wins. For non-believers, the threat is belief in things not seen, and the threat is real. Political structures from ancient Rome to the present time have discounted the power of hope, or abused faith by exacting payment, literal and figurative, from believers looking to a heavenly reward for earthly suffering. Regardless, the secular powers will discredit or abuse the faithful.

Institutional religion, however, can be just a threatened by Christ’s universal invitation. For two millennia various Christian groups have tried to be more than just evangelists of the Gospel; they have tried to mediate Christ’s judgment, essentially placing themselves between the faithful and the promise of eternal life. By doing so, religions have usurped the power of Christ and tried to demand a fealty for salvation. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, various individuals and denominations have discovered that power to stand between the faithful and the Cross has been taken away, forcing them to redefine their evangelistic work in the world.

So, the Easter message isn’t static or played out, nor is it impotent or unimportant. It is vibrant, dangerous, empowering, controversial, and as vital as it was when the empty tomb was first discovered. It does, indeed, bring all things into the light. To downplay the extra-ordinariness of Resurrection is to miss the meaning of the entire salvation story: in Christ, we are saved, saved from eternal death, and invited into eternal life.

Alleluia!

In Christ’s peace,
Fr. Shawn

When in Here....(thanks, Mike White!)

My wife and I recently returned from an inspiring trip to Rome. “The Eternal City” is for many, if not the cradle, then the nursery of Christianity. Throughout the city, religious and public art overwhelm with a sense of living in the midst of history.

While the churches are full of tourists, students, and the needy, they are not necessarily full of the faithful. After receiving ashes early in the morning at St. Sabina’s on the Aventine Hill, we were surprised the rest of the day to see no one else with a mark on their foreheads. We weren’t embarrassed to have ashes smudged on our skin – how could we be embarrassed when surrounded by shrines of early century martyrs who truly suffered. It did, however, remind us that faith, lived with immediacy and relevancy, can be a catalyst in the lives of others, especially when embraced publically and not privately.

Each major religion has seasonal times of self-examination. For Christians in the catholic traditions, Lent is our forty days of penitence, wisely placed at the end of winter and before the tilling of the spring, to reflect on where we have been, where we are, and where we hope to be in our relationship to God, but also to one another. In our external sign of the season of Lent, and in our internal life of prayerful reflection, we became tangible embodiment of current faith walking the ancient paths.

In THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL, modern mystic and spiritual writer Evelyn Underhill comments that our interior life, lived in the natural and supernatural sense, must be balanced with the external world around us, what she calls “the city.” For Lent calls us not just to self-examination, but to also scrutinize our relationships with our neighbors. Our moments of penitence might be more meaningful if we not let our interior examination prevent our outward gaze. Taking time for self is important, but the self is always in relationship to the other, our neighbors, and “the city” that helps us to live a life that is visibly celebrated in faith.

Pax,

Fr. Shawn