I believe we were made for God and each other. All of us. Male and female, God created us - to know and love God and to know and love one other. The sky was beautiful that day. In the tragedy of the human condition, however, we, like sheep, all went astray. The seamless garment of our humanity was ripped in two - then to pieces. A spell was cast. A deep, impenetrable darkness again returned to hover over the face of the deep and cloak the beauty of the world. We all put on masks, hewn out of fig trees. We could no longer bear the thought of anyone seeing us as we really are. We were ashamed.
Then a light turned on. The Light, really. The one Light from whence the sun got its burn and the moon its glow and the stars their twinkling wink. The Light turned on and there was a man standing at the door. His name was Jesus. It was all very surprising. He asked to come in and have dinner - with us. With me. He feasted lavishly and laughed a lot. A little too much for some. Someone asked what in the world he thought he was doing with us sinners. He looked at them incredulously, as if they had missed the whole point. "Who else would I eat with?" he asked. "I came to be with the sinners, not the righteous."
He came to other houses too. He healed people and talked about the coming of a new age. He taught with authority. He spoke with power. He was NOT boring. It was all good news. Someone asked him if he was the Messiah - the anointed one of God. He just winked. But I swear I saw the twinkle of the stars in that wink. Then they came for him. At midnight. Under the hushed cloak of darkness; the powers of a cruel world came and took him. But he did not resist. He told us to put away our swords. By that afternoon he would be dead - convicted on a bunch of false charges. He was executed as an enemy of the state.
The sun mourned. The moon cried. The stars lost all their twinkle.
Then, on the third day he rose again. From the dead. And not just his ghost. But his body. Tom touched his hands to make sure.
This changed everything. Death has been swallowed up by life. The darkness has given way to the Light. A whole new world has been born over. There is a new creation.
So what do I believe?
I believe that we are the bearers of the hope of this new creation. We have been entrusted to announce the coming of a new age where hatred gives way to love, sadness gives way to joy, strife is overcome by peace and death will one day, for all of us, give way to resurrected life. We have been graced to carry on Jesus' ministry and to be his ongoing presence in the world.
