What would it take for any of us
to experience a resurrection? “Life” observed an old friend of mine “is the
tomb”. We are surrounded by finitude. There is only so much time to fill, only
so much money to spend, the people we love die or they go away and our days
are, more often than not, filled with sorrows punctuated by happiness. The
Buddha said, “life is attachment, and with that comes sorrow.” What would it
take to roll away that great stone of our troubles, and feel the sunshine on
our faces once again?
Think about those new directions
that your life took after some failing in another; the death of the loved one,
a divorce, losing your job. The good news is this: Each of has an Easter
awaiting. It’s not reserved just for the holy, or even the courageous. Each one
of us has the power of resurrection, right here and right now. Today, one of you is feeling the pain of a separation,
today one of you is struggling with the demons of addiction, today one of you
is feeling numb after seasons of meaningless labor, today, more than a few of
us are feeling the chill of winter’s sorrows. We want to feel spring but it’s
so hard!
What stands in our way? Stones.
Big stones. Stones of doubt, control, and fear. One of us must face a life of
new choices but feels powerless to move. The stone of fear. A marriage seems
stuck and while others have suggested how to get it going again we resist. The
stone of control. We feel anger at a loved one for an almost unspeakable hurt.
We know we need to forgive but how? The stone of anger. We need to make a
decision about our future and soon, but what if the path we are considering is
the wrong one? The stone of doubt.
I have no illusions here, my
friends, I have been through some of these troubles. These stones are not easy
to roll away from the tomb of our lives. There is a lot more to resurrection
than daffodils and bunny rabbits. This can easily be the most difficult work
you will ever face. But you can do it! I know that we can roll away those
stones and walk again into the light.
How? With trust and hope. So it
is with any of us. We will rise again from our struggles to a new day with
trust and hope. Trust is what underlies our hope. So it is there that it must
begin. Resurrections are only possible when we begin with the ones we love.
When couples struggle in a relationship their ONLY salvation lies in trusting
again. These can be big stones; doubt that the person will not hurt us again,
fear that we will be hurt again, and our desire to control the relationship so
that we won’t be hurt again.
Trust is the leap into love that
says “it’s going to be o.k. to open up again even if the worst does happen.”
Trust says “whatever happens, it will be all right”. Trust rolls away the
stones of fear and control.
It is the depth of our struggle
that gives us hope as long as we can trust that it will get better.
Resurrection doesn’t mean freedom from life’s struggles but a renewed
willingness to live through those struggles. One old friend used to say “It’s a
great old life as long as you don’t weaken.” But you know what? It’s a great
life even if you do weaken. Because rolling away the stone has more to do with
openness than strength.
With Grace and Grit, John
