Easter
All is quiet and as it should be at the beach this morning. The rain has stopped. The ferries and the busses are doing what they do. My Starbucks chair has my butt in it and the fireplace is still on. This morning kind of resembles the calm before the storm in my world. I’ve just come from a week of mom visiting from the East, a daughter’s wedding shower, a few more days of princess Lily, and generally not much structure or schedule whatsoever. It’s been a decent time of head clearing…not that I can afford that any. Now it’s time to focus on the week that lies ahead.
In case you didn’t already figure it out…this week is fairly big in my world. Being a leader in my community o’ faith, I tend to look at things like Jesus walking out of his tomb as a big deal. And just as a bit of defense for my beliefs, this one event is fairly unique in the world of religion and faith. We have the only faith whose originator and leading figure walked from his tomb. The rest are just….. well…they’re just dead. Sorry… I don’t know any other way to put it.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that this fact tends to be overlooked by people of my tribe while we wallow in stupid things. History has plenty of stones to throw at us for the ignorant things that we’ve been a part of. Yeah I’ve just about heard them all… the Crusades, the Inquisition, colonialism, homophobia, Fred Phelps, Pat Robertson… blah, blah, blah. My response is simply this; What does any of this have to do with Jesus? What does any of this have to do with the historical reality (look into it) that Jesus did not remain in his tomb? Answer…. Absolutely nothing. What it shows is what happens when idiot people who claim Jesus forget this event central to our faith. We ought to be different. We ought to be but unfortunately too often we’re not. Although, let’s be honest in this…most people ought to be different because of what they say they believe in but they’re not. I live in the most “environmentally conscious” part of the country. It’s also, with the possible exception of Texas, home to the greatest concentration of SUV’s that the world has ever known. Car pool lanes remain relatively traffic free right alongside thousands of single occupant vehicles containing people who’d rather be unemployed than share a ride. We ought to be different, but too often we’re not.
I’m beginning a social experiment this week. I won a one hundred dollar bill last week. This week I’m going to see how far some goodness might go, originating from this bill…one person at a time. I’m going to undertake this “pay it forward” kind of thing, not for myself, but in honor of the one who walked out of his tomb 2000 years ago for the sake of idiots and ingrates throughout the ages. I should be different because of it. We should be different because of it. I apologize for myself and others when we’re not. It doesn’t have anything to do with Jesus.
This Sunday may pass you by like the Easter Bunny. You may have little regard for people like me because of past history, and that would be understandable. All I would ask is this; that you wouldn’t base your opinion of Jesus on your opinion of those who claim to follow him. The reality is that this Sunday, many of his “followers” will decide that they can’t even get out of bed. However, the rest of us will celebrate the fact that he got out of the grave. If nothing else, this event should give overwhelming evidence of the need for Jesus. We ought to, all of us of any faith or lack thereof, be different. We ought to, but too often we’re not.
In case you didn’t already figure it out…this week is fairly big in my world. Being a leader in my community o’ faith, I tend to look at things like Jesus walking out of his tomb as a big deal. And just as a bit of defense for my beliefs, this one event is fairly unique in the world of religion and faith. We have the only faith whose originator and leading figure walked from his tomb. The rest are just….. well…they’re just dead. Sorry… I don’t know any other way to put it.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that this fact tends to be overlooked by people of my tribe while we wallow in stupid things. History has plenty of stones to throw at us for the ignorant things that we’ve been a part of. Yeah I’ve just about heard them all… the Crusades, the Inquisition, colonialism, homophobia, Fred Phelps, Pat Robertson… blah, blah, blah. My response is simply this; What does any of this have to do with Jesus? What does any of this have to do with the historical reality (look into it) that Jesus did not remain in his tomb? Answer…. Absolutely nothing. What it shows is what happens when idiot people who claim Jesus forget this event central to our faith. We ought to be different. We ought to be but unfortunately too often we’re not. Although, let’s be honest in this…most people ought to be different because of what they say they believe in but they’re not. I live in the most “environmentally conscious” part of the country. It’s also, with the possible exception of Texas, home to the greatest concentration of SUV’s that the world has ever known. Car pool lanes remain relatively traffic free right alongside thousands of single occupant vehicles containing people who’d rather be unemployed than share a ride. We ought to be different, but too often we’re not.
I’m beginning a social experiment this week. I won a one hundred dollar bill last week. This week I’m going to see how far some goodness might go, originating from this bill…one person at a time. I’m going to undertake this “pay it forward” kind of thing, not for myself, but in honor of the one who walked out of his tomb 2000 years ago for the sake of idiots and ingrates throughout the ages. I should be different because of it. We should be different because of it. I apologize for myself and others when we’re not. It doesn’t have anything to do with Jesus.
This Sunday may pass you by like the Easter Bunny. You may have little regard for people like me because of past history, and that would be understandable. All I would ask is this; that you wouldn’t base your opinion of Jesus on your opinion of those who claim to follow him. The reality is that this Sunday, many of his “followers” will decide that they can’t even get out of bed. However, the rest of us will celebrate the fact that he got out of the grave. If nothing else, this event should give overwhelming evidence of the need for Jesus. We ought to, all of us of any faith or lack thereof, be different. We ought to, but too often we’re not.
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