Journeying With Jesus and Jon (the Methodist)
“…we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life emerges! Look at it!” II Cor 5:17
Resurrection shouldn’t be confused with resuscitation. Resuscitation is more akin to being re-awakened. Resurrection, on the other hand, is being raised from death to life. In one, there is restoration. In the other, there is NEW LIFE. Resurrection is all around us. God is not hiding this from us like some secret code to a hidden passage. We only need to pause, observe, and ponder. This caused Natalie Sleeth to pen the hymn lyric:
“In cocoons a hidden promise, butterflies will soon be free.“
Singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett says it this way:
”You gotta bury the seed in the dirt my friend, if you want the thing to grow.“
While the gospel writers all testify to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, the world we live in today is also a living testimony to God’s power “to make all things new.” Author Anne Lamott reflects on her personal experiences with God’s resurrection power in her book, Small Victories. Lamott calls the climate of Northern California her home.
“Then, amazingly, only a few days later, the very first bulbs began to bloom. Within a week, there are dozens of daffodils in the yard. When this finally happens in late winter every year, I’m astonished. I’ve always given up. In November and December when I plant them, I get swept up in the fantasy that the earth, after so much rain, will be rich and loamy. Planting bulbs sounds like a romantic and fun thing to do, but it never is. The earth is rocky and full of roots; its clay and it seems doomed and polluted, yet, you dig holes for the ugly, shriveled bulbs, throw in a handful of poppy seeds, and cover everything over, and you know you’ll never see them again – its death and clay and shrivel. Your hands are nicked from the rocks, your nails are black with soil. December and January have been so grim the past few years, and this year the power kept going out, and everyone was crazy as a rat. Yet, here we are in February, with war drums and daffodils everywhere, and poppies waiting in the wings.”
Still In ONE Peace,
Jon (the Methodist)
Photo Credit: Jon Strother