Rise Up

Easter has to be one of my favorite days. After the agony of holy week we get to celebrate the victory of Easter. In the chancel area of our church there's a cross covered with Easter lilies today. I saw crosses outside of other churches covered in flowers too. It's an incredibly beautiful reminder that God is victorious over sin and death through Christ.

The fact that the church chose the cross as its defining symbol makes sense because it was on the cross that Jesus won the decisive victory. But if you think about it from a first century perspective, it's an odd choice. The cross was a symbol of the most shameful kind of death a person could die. It was reserved for those who deserved a humiliating and excruciating end. Isn't it amazing the the Lord of Glory, the Creator and Sustainer of all gave up his life on a cross?!

Churches cover those instruments of torture with flowers on Easter Sunday. Why? Because that terrible symbol of suffering is transformed into a symbol of victory. Death could not hold him. Love wins - and not quietly or subtly - love wins with resounding shouts of victory. It's simply another example of God's exquisite sense of irony. Flowers covering the cross is a fitting picture of a great reversal.

That same victory - over sin and death and pain - is ours today. We all have wounds that have led to death - the death of some area of our lives, or of a relationship. We (like the disciples) may think that the story is over. But God, in Christ, is victorious. He is not content to see any part of you or me left in the tomb. In his resurrection appearances, Jesus' wounds were evidence of God's great power. Likewise, though we will certainly bear scars from many things, our wounds are transformed into evidence of God's great power, victory, and love if we will only allow them to be.

Ben Shive sings a song about the final judgement called "Rise Up". I think it's actually a great reminder that the Easter victory will one day be consummated, and on that day all will be made right:

Every stone that makes you stumble
And cuts you when you fall
Every serpent here that strikes your heel
To curse you when you crawl
The King of Love one day will crush them all

And every sad seduction
And every clever lie
Every word that woos and wounds
The pilgrim children of the sky
The King of Love will break them by and by

And you will rise up in the end
You will rise up in the end
I know the night is cruel
But the day is coming soon
And you will rise up in the end

All praise to the King of Love who's not content to leave us wounded and dead and alone in our shame; but who instead claims, redeems, and heals us; the One who causes those places of death to bloom with new life and beauty.

Dying Alone

I attended a couple of services yesterday (Maundy Thursday). In the first one the Gethsemane story was read, beginning with Jesus predicting Peter's denial. It is significant that this story appears in all four Gospel accounts. In the evening service I attended, passages from Jesus' final week on earth were read, beginning with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and ending with Jesus' burial.

I'm struck by several things:

How dramatically and quickly the crowds turned against Jesus. Jesus spent three years preaching, teaching, healing, and befriending those who were left out of traditional "in crowds". In spite of all of the good he did for so many people, when Jesus disappointed their expectations, they turned against him, forgetting every good word and deed. People are fickle. I like to think that I'm a consistent person, but it's only wishful thinking. When things don't turn out like I expect, my constancy fades. How about you?

More surprising is how quickly Jesus' friends let him down. These guys were close to Jesus - sharing meals and travels. If any knew his heart, his worth, it was the disciples. One of them betrayed him, one denied knowing him, and they all deserted him when he was arrested. As I mentioned above, Peter's denial is recorded in all four Gospels. In Luke's account, Jesus not only foretells Peter's denial, says that he will turn back (toward Jesus) and that when he does, he should strengthen his brothers. Incredible words of encouragement for all of us who let our Lord down.

Jesus' face was set toward what he had to do, but he dreaded the suffering he knew he'd have to endure. In Gethsemane he struggled - and his friends slept. Again a description of people who loved Jesus - adored him, but couldn't watch and pray for him for even an hour. I think that these details, like the prediction of Peter's denial, are there for our encouragement. I don't know about you, but I'd have probably fallen asleep too.

I find myself in so many of the characters depicted in the Passion narrative. Jesus died for all of those faithless characters. He died for me too. I'm awed and amazed by the fact that he went through with it - even though he could have chosen not to. He could have come down from the cross instead of enduring the searing physical pain of crucifixion and the emotional pain of the insults hurled in his direction. Instead, he chose to give up his life for his faithless friends and the fickle crowds. For you and me. Thanks be to God!

Building Bikes

This week I attended a leadership retreat with the company I work for. It's a yearly event where we focus on honing our skills and refocusing on the important task of guiding our company forward. Each year we attend meetings, share ideas and network, and of course, participate in a team building exercise. In the past we've hiked, toured The Biltmore House, done an "iron chef" activity... You get the picture. Fun stuff. Fun stuff designed to build the team.

This year, we did the usual meeting stuff, but the team building was different. We built 21 bicycles for orphans. There were team building exercises all along the way - business lessons - you know, to make us more aware of ourselves and our teams. There was also plenty of fun in the process. But in the end, we had built bikes for kids who needed them. It felt better than anything we'd done as a team before.

We (Americans) spend a lot of time worrying about self actualization in one way or another. Even though we may define it in different ways, we think we owe it to ourselves to be fully developed - fully actualized. It's pretty easy to fall prey to the idea that it's all about us - who we are and what we have. The bike building exercise points out an important truth: we can in fact become better developed people and serve others at the same time. In fact, the greatest leaders are those whose mission it is to serve. No one could say it better than Jesus, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."