The Power of Good Friday

RESURRECTION!

Well, I know that I have been very sporadic in blogs lately, and offer some degree of apology for that.  However, our flood relief efforts have been extremely time consuming and valuable.  Many people who have been really struggling have experienced hope because someone gave them a pair of rubber boots from our supply to wear when they were cleaning out the mud, or because we helped purchase some needed items as flood victims try to put their lives back together.  But it has been a very scurrying and taxing effort on our part. As I said to some of my parishioners one day, it isn’t like we can sit back and have some committee meetings to work out all the details of a perfect plan, because people are hungry NOW, people have nowhere to live NOW, people are trying to get the mud out of their homes NOW.  So we have met as we could, planned as we could, and then just worked hard to do the best we could, and I would say I am proud of what the difference we have been able to make, made possible only through the hard work of our people and the generosity of others who have given funds and goods for us to be able to distribute.

I just can’t let Holy Week pass, though, without at least a word to my readers.  I believe in the power, the promise and the hope of resurrection…not only into the eternal sphere after death, but even here.  When life knocks us for a loop, when our plans shatter, when our hope is dashed and we feel like we can’t go on, when problems arise that appear insurmountable and life takes a sudden downward turn, THAT is the time to remember the promise of the resurrection.

When God is part of our lives and planning, defeat and despair never have the final word.  God turned an ugly instrument of torture and execution into a symbol elevated on church steeples and adorned to be worn around our necks because it became the instrument by which God won our forgiveness and salvation, that same God can bring new life and promise out of whatever circumstances have left you broken, confused and despairing.  I cannot tell you how many times I have visited with Christians who have experienced divorce and then years later are able to describe all the ways God used that changepoint in life to open new doors and opportunities, to create new and better relationships, or even to help those individuals turn to God in a deeper way than they had ever experienced before.  And that is just one of the shattering events life can bring, but which God can use anyway.

Resurrection speaks of the promise of tomorrow. Resurrection speaks of a God who is bigger than whatever problem you face.  Resurrection speaks of a hope that mourning may be turned into dancing and joy will come in the morning.

I know it’s Good Friday, the day we remember the ugliness and awfulness of the painful death of Christ upon the cross.  It was OUR sins that he was dying for…it should have been us there, not him!  But even though this is the day we remember the crucifixion, I want to urge you to realize something in the midst of it:  if there had not been a death on the cross, there would have been no opportunity for a resurrection on Easter morning.  

Whatever hard and awful thing you struggle with in your life, no matter how hard and awful it is, it brings with it an opportunity for God to provide a resurrection of your own as he does something good, something fresh, something powerful on the other side of the struggle BECAUSE you went through the struggle, and you went through it with him at your side.

Remember the Lord’s suffering today, remember the promise of resurrection, and rejoice in the hope that is yours for resurrection beyond the troubles of today!  Happy Easter!

Ten Days After Easter

NOW WHAT?

     Easter was just a Sunday or so ago, but I have an unusual habit:  I read old devotionals.  Oh, I read current ones, too…I’m kind of a devotional junkie.  In fact, during one of my radio interviews, the interviewer asked me why I used a devotional format for my divorce books, and my reply was that first, the reading of it could extend over a longer period of time, which can be helpful since divorce takes a while to get through.  Secondly, I indicated that I enjoy devotionals myself, and have found them to be useful in my life, so wanted to share that special treat as well.  ANYWAY, since I mix in older devotions, I end up with some odd combinations.  Such as, today one of the devotions had been for Good Friday of the year for which it was actually written…and another was on a different day of Holy Week.  So the neat thing is that I am experiencing an extended celebration and reflection about Easter and the surrounding events.

One of the things that struck me in my “after the day” readings about Easter was when I was reading in Luke 24, the stories about the two men walking on the road to Emmaus to whom Jesus appeared.  Careful reading of their words indicates that they were headed home, headed back to pick up the pieces now that the one they “had hoped was the Messiah” had been crucified.  

Jesus makes them tell him about everything they had experienced that week, and as they did so, they mentioned that some women had come claiming to see Jesus, and the disciples had gone to inspect but hadn’t found him.  In other words, these guys had heard the news about the resurrection, but were going home anyway!  I kind of feel the same way when I read John 21 and notice Peter saying that he was going fishing.  They had news of the resurrection, but in spite of the news, they went back to their old routines.

  

Interestingly enough, into both of those stories the resurrected Jesus enters and makes clear that death had not won the final battle, and when they really grasp that, they never return to their old lives again.  Instead, they find new energy, new options, new hope, and new lives!

So Easter was ten days ago,

Could I dare to ask whether it has made any difference in YOUR life?  That is, now that the celebration of the day is over, has the power of that resurrection meant that your life has been changed for the good, not just for a day, but for each and every day afterwards?  

Or have you gone back to fishing, feeling that you wish it had made a difference for you, but it hasn’t?  Because I am reading these old devotionals, I find myself immersed in an ongoing Holy Week repetition and celebration, and I am finding it meaningful and interesting.  We each choose whether we open our hearts and lives to resurrection energy, hope and change, or dwell in the past that weighs our hearts down.

In life, there are many events that can send us spiraling into despondency.  Divorce is certainly one, but it is not the only one.  Not only is that the case, but many individuals go to wonderful Christian conferences, hoping that it will make a big difference in their lives, but return afterwards and find themselves in the same old drudgery.  Let me challenge you today to examine the drudgery and routine of your life.  

Have you lost track of the resurrection?  

Have you lost hope that Jesus was YOUR Messiah and would make a difference for the rest of your life, not just for a moment?  

Have you spent so long dealing with dark and troubling times that hope is a word you can scarcely define, let alone claim as your own?  

If so, I invite you to join me in going back.  As Jesus led those Emmaus disciples back over the events of Holy Week, let God lead you again through the stories of the triumphal entry, the prayers in the garden, the last supper and crucifixion, and the resurrection that IS Easter!  Let those stories remind you that darkness does not win.  That despair is not all powerful.  That despondency falters before the resurrection power of God to change lives forever.  Invite God to let the light of Christ burst forth afresh in your soul, breaking open the stony places just as the rock rolled away from the tomb.  And then go forward unencumbered by the past, but living the promise and the hope.  

Go forward to what God will do in your life AFTER the chapter of divorce.  Or what God may do when he resurrects your marriage and brings it to a place you never thought possible.  No matter how dark the days have been you have experienced, darkness is NOT the end of the story.  God’s light overcomes the darkness, and the power of the resurrection can break any stone that tries to withstand it.  God can, and will, do marvelous things for you when you seek him…even if, as the disciples themselves had to learn, the things that he does don’t always match up with the expectations you have.  Instead, they are better!  

Happy Easter…AGAIN!

A Resurrected Life

RESURRECTION!

(The Missing Candy)

I like Holy Week, and all the special services that go with it, especially services that reflect the mood of the Passion Week.

I like the candy.  At least, some of it.  It was a little disappointing this year, I couldn’t find any of those multi-colored oblong hard shell candy eggs with the white stuff inside.  I’ve had some of those around every Easter for as far back as I can remember.

Of course, most of all I love the story of the resurrection and the promise of new life that goes with it.  After the crucifixion, with the few days in the dark tomb, Jesus burst forth from the grave, boldly proclaiming victory over death demonstrating that even what seems like the end to us here has no power over Christ.  

On Easter morning all the pain and sorrow of the Passion was overwhelmed by the glory and wonder of an empty tomb and a risen Savior.  Though the wounds were still visible, they were no longer symbols of suffering by symbols of hope and new life, the power to produce pain had succumbed to the resurrection power of God.

For many people who experience divorce, the resurrection story can be a powerful paradigm of the things God has done and can do in their lives as well.  Often before a divorce, one or both partners suffers many hurts and attacks, some physical and some not…just as did Jesus.  The experience of divorce has much in common with the experience of death.  There is great loss and much mourning.  A relationship comes to an end, even if ex-spouses continue to maintain cordial contact, the marriage has suffered a tragic end.  The time can feel as oppressive and dark as a tomb.  But that is not the end of the story.  

For many, life post divorce shares some degree of similarity with resurrection.  Of course it means starting a new kind of life after years of marriage.  But I have often heard individuals mention areas of their lives that they find “resurrected” once on their own…hobbies and interests they had long since forgotten, in some cases a renewed sense of self and of one’s value before God, and for some it is like a second chance, a do-over in which they make new choices perhaps with a new partner and discover a life that they always thought should be, but had never known.  

In some cases, the individual may end up in a new relationship in which they experience love like they had never known before.  For others, they have a chance to change the course of their lives, perhaps in a new location or a new career.  Most of all though, as time passes and the door of divorce’s tomb begins to roll away, one eventually learns that there is, as a friend of mine once mentioned to me, “life after divorce.”  The wounds are still there, mostly in one’s heart and memory - but as time passes and the new life emerges, their power gradually diminishes as a fresh hope begins to grow.

Happy Easter to you!  May you encounter new life and resurrection at every turn.