| As we looked at a 'recasting of God' through the resurrection last week. So today will we have James Alison do something like that with a 'recasting of sin." Yesterday was his 'step one' and today we take the next step. The second step shows that death is not merely something which has nothing to do with God and which need not be, but that as a human reality it is opposed to God. it is not only that our representation of God is inaccurate, needing refocusing, but our representation of God is actively contrary tot he understanding of god which god wishes to make known. That is to say that the death of this man Jesus showed that death is not merely a biological reality, but is also a sinful reality. To put it another way: it is not just that death is a human reality and not a divine one, but as a human reality it is a sinful reality. God, in raising Jesus, was not merely showing that death has no power over him, but also revealing that the putting to death of Jesus showed humans as actively involved in death. In human reality, death and sin are intertwined: the necessity of human death is itself a necessity born of sin. In us, death is not merely a passive reality but an active one, not something we merely receive but one we deal out. As soon as I was done typing this excerpt, I sang this line from a piece a small group sang in high school: "from whence come wars and fighting among us." Interesting connection. Yes, we all die -duh. But yes, we also all participate in the death that goes on all around us. This piece reminded me of the four-hour documentary by Spike Lee (If God is Willing and the Creek Don't Rise) and the many stories of how our humanity let so many people die brutal deaths. Or do we say it this way how our humanity put to death so many people in and around New Orleans. We are that actively involved. There is no distance that can separate us from our part in the destruction of others. We can laugh about the six degrees of separation between us and Kevin Bacon, but the connection between each of us and the power of death or sin is too close for us to even contemplate what it means. And yet, this is where we begin being truly human. We admit our part and we step into what we so often call promise. Connection: Death is not out there - it is here. In too many ways, we are shaped by this power that our God says is no power at all. Lord of the Resurrection, you have already broken the power of death and now you continue to bid us to follow in the way of life - life for all and in all times and places as we follow our Lord, Jesus. Move us on, O God. Amen. |
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