Pass this on if you wish.

-L

April 2006

A Witness

I took a two-month break from this epublication. I didn’t really plan to, but I blinked and the month of February went by. Just when I thought I would post a late February issue, March was gone too. I apologize. Still, I have been thinking plenty of spiritual thoughts and I may get them out in some manner to you later if I can. For now, I’ll start April with something.

Recently a large fire incinerated a warehouse near my home. Many in town saw it burn and fire fighters from 20 small companies witnessed the episode. I don’t know the number of eyewitnesses exactly, but I could venture a guess of maybe 300. If it had not be captured on video and news footage and you had no way of verifying the event, would you believe that it happened just based on my and 300 people’s testimony?

 What if each person said it had changed their lives for the better forever and they would even die to prove it happened? Would that help you believe more?

Easter is coming. I’d rather say Resurrection Sunday in this case because “Easter” (a pagan goodness) has nothing to do with what I celebrate on that day. But I won’t split hairs. Once a year as followers of Jesus we celebrate the One who conquered death. To many this story seems untrue. It seems stupid, ridiculous or like a kind of scam. For the intellectual mind the idea of a man claiming to be God’s son, was officially executed by professionals and then lay dead sealed in a tomb for three days only to be reanimated to life again doesn’t really seem possible perhaps.

On the surface it doesn’t seem possible to me either, but one thing is really hard to dismiss. Over 500 people saw him alive. He ate and taught and traveled for 40 days and his friends and other believers gave up their lives on this fact. Thousands of people gave up their lives very early into things. What ever for? They didn’t get a leg up in politics, more money, or even greater safety. The opposite of this happened. It seems hundreds and soon thousands gave up everything just to tell other people what they saw and how there lives were changed believing this message.  It’s not a good career or retirement plan, unless it's true. This seems like living the opposite way that would work out best, occupationally, socially, politically and so on.

The other amazing fact is the transformation of the believers. Jesus taught a way of harmony, peace and above all love. Not just love for those who love you, but for those who completely hate you. This sounds like a bad idea. Why change your life for this odd reasoning? The idea is to live the opposite of how you might think things would best work out. Nevertheless, selfish people became selfless. Wrongdoers stopped doing wrong. Haters became lovers. Wealthy believers sold all their possessions and gave them to the poor. What but the truth could cause the kind of reaction? Nothing, unless those 500-plus people actually saw the Son of God alive again. Unless these people felt his love for them and it changed them forever. Unless God became man and showed us the way.

 On top of that, the city where Christianity was founded was soon destroyed, the language in which the Good News was written in went dead, and believers had to disperse and flee for their lives. It doesn’t make for good odds if you’re trying to spread a religion, especially if it’s based on a farce. But people did believe and the power of God’s love in their hearts changed them forever. It changed their way of life. It changed their world. It declared that most bizarre thing that we are all equal to God and he wants to reconcile with us and has made a way. He bought the ticket. If not for God’s power the spreading of this powerful message couldn’t be done. It’s unexplainable. It’s a miracle. Like life conquering death. Like spring.

 I’m not saying everything done in Christ’s name was what Jesus would have wanted or what he taught. History will tell us of Christians hurting others. Still, if you look at the faithful, you see a way of selfless love, not perfection, but a pure heart striving to be humble, compassionate and better through God’s power.

 One of the strangest things about Christian spirituality is that it revolves around the idea of a kingdom in your heart. It's strange because it's about the unseen world. Mankind sets up earthy powers and governments. God surprises us by making it about the unseen. Mankind sets up people with influence, education, social status and money to run things. God picks the outcasts, poor, unappreciated, lowly, and uneducated to be is children firstly. His ways are not our ways. He confounds the so-called wise by “foolishness”. He makes a way for the child, the fool, and the one who is humble. This seems the opposite of what one might suppose.

 Christian spirituality says you can’t work for God’s love, you must just accept it as a gift that comes for free. It seems crazy. It seems like the opposite of what you would suppose. It’s such a simple answer. Though the answer isn’t complicated, the commitment requires our whole heart. When our selfishness bumps into this idea it can get messy. We, not God make it complicated! 

Following Jesus requires a new born life, a new heart, and new eyes. It involves seeing people not as annoying, or inferior, or hateful, but as people that God loves too just as much. Christian spirituality is not about being perfect, it’s about being faithful. It’s about persisting in the following and asking and seeking and getting back up after you fall. It’s about people with sordid pasts or full of faults who want a heart that is like Jesus’. A heart of flesh and not stone. It’s about people who want to love, but know they can’t really do it without God’s help and power. It's a very weird thing. I admit it.

 Sure, in some ways I’d rather do things my way. In some ways it would be easier not to believe, it would cost less. The trouble is I've personally found life without God is empty or pointless. Life without God becomes a series of painful searching, distractions or busyness or eventually meaningless pursuits. I am miserable without my reconciliation to Him and when I know there is something between us. I want to praise my maker for I know that he is unseen but certainly real. It's then when I feel right in the world. when I feel I've made it home. I know that reality isn’t just what my physical eyes can see; and the way to life abundant is love. God is in fact love. Love so big, that it’s overwhelming and wonderful and sort of scary too. And God is the conqueror of death in every way we can ever imagine. That's my "Easter" message. Thanks for listening.

Happy Resurrection Sunday to you!

Lisa DeLay

©2006