It's about the Resurrection stupid

[realFedUp]

my headline, not Susan's...

http://www.everyvoice.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=index&catid=&topic=29

Taking Jesus Personally
Rev. Susan Russell
(from Susan's blog)

snip-

Bishop Robinson writes, "The fact is, at least for me, the resurrection makes all the difference in how I live my life. The resurrection is how I can "be not afraid," but instead be a bold and active witness to the love of God. As I strapped on my bulletproof vest just before I remember feeling blessedly calm about whatever might happen. Not because I am brave, but because God is good and because God has overcome death, so that I never have to be afraid again.

That is the power of the resurrection. NOT in what happens AFTER death, but what the knowledge of our resurrection does for our lives and ministries BEFORE death. I am not worried nearly as much about life after death as about whether or not there is life before death! We are no longer prisoners to the power of the fear of death. We don't have to be worried about how all of this is going to turn out. We know the end of the story. God reigns. Death is vanquished. We are given life eternal in the company of a merciful and loving God and all the saints. Believing that, knowing that, can and does empower us for ministry in God's name." (http://www.thewitness.org/article.php?id=859)

That, my friends, is what a faith to die for looks like. What we have to proclaim is a Gospel that can truly enter into those places of darkness and suffering where compassion is the only gift we have to give. It is ours to give, as the Body of Christ, because our Lord went there first. It is ours to give when we reach out to the oppressed and the persecuted. It is ours to give whether we proclaim the Gospel to those who have never heard it before: or to those who have never before heard that the Good News of God in Christ includes them.

Few of us will ever be called to strap on a bullet proof vest for our faith, but "to drink or not to drink?" is a question that we answer every time we take the life and death of Jesus personally -- every time we are faced with the choice of whether or not to speak out against injustice, to advocate for inclusion or to rage against the machine. "To drink or not to drink?" is the question I hear echoing in this poem by an unknown author, given to me by a friend and parishioner when I left for seminary in 1993. It's called, simply, "Crocus:"

It takes courage
to be crocusminded.

[realFedUp]

1. This is a sermon worth reading

It doesn't matter that Good Friday is over...
we all have Good Fridays in our lives and
hopefully Easters...