Long time since the last post. I have not been keeping note of the notes I write myself. That means I write and rant less and less. That is odd for I like to write and at times - I rant with some joy.
I find myself mystified by preaching that focuses on heaven and hell. I once wrote that both of those concepts or realities are violent. By that I simply mean they are used to get something done. To encourage a life or discourage a life. The violence comes when folks are left out or welcomed in for this and that reason. The promise of heaven and hell leaves too many folks forgetting about the power and energy of today and how we are a part of the energy for life that makes creation eternally vibrant and alive.
For some, heaven and hell will be a part of their future. That future is constructed on conditions. There is a one day that will confront us and we will have to face going in this direction or that one.
More and more, I am empowered - even energized - by how the simple promise and announcement that I am beloved and I am a gift to the world and I am full of the potential for a peaceable existence is inspiration for the day. Personally, I find that affirmation within a traditional view of a God who creates - endlessly - and I am invited into that creativity without any need for coercion or violence.
If I had to put a title on this rant, it would be the energy of resurrection. It is the energy that continues to transform life even when I am not here anymore. It is the energy that nudges lives beyond my own to live benevolently and peaceably and within the depths of mercy and kindness and a renewing and reinvigorating justice. It takes energy to step into such a life. So this is where I am moving a bit differently than usual. Our death becomes the energy for life after us. Today I see it in two ways - not at all new thinking. First, when it is the death we face when we take our last breath and the brain waves have ceased the room is filled with the energy of our lives that appears to be gone but it is swirling in the room and the world around us. The energy of resurrection moves others off into the present. It has the power to awaken and disturb and move others. Can we see it? Hell no. Is it there? Damn right it is. The second way death becomes energy for life is within the day to day ways we face the death of ourselves - our ego - our way of seeing - our way of holding onto the world as we want it and expect it. Within the grasp of so many existential run-ins with death there is an energy that is the power for miraculous change that becomes available within a dying-to-self that invites life in others.
I live within a generation and culture that has been afraid - maybe even anxious - to let go and allow the energy of resurrection to be released. One way I see that manifest itself is within our rituals of death and burial preparation and burial itself. Here is one image that always confounds me. When taking a cab or Uber from LaGuardia airport over the years, we drive right alongside a sprawling cemetery. And why? It is as though we want to box up and contain and control the energy of resurrection - as though we can save it for another day. We embalm to keep things as they were before our last breath - the energy of resurrection is halted. We seem to be afraid to let decomposition become the possibility of new life. I have a love for that which decomposes - thus our compost bins. The energy from that decomposition becomes new life - energy moving into new shapes and forms.
I really don't want to get into a rant about our burial practices in our society, but they are odd at best. I have grown to appreciate the cultures - religious and secular - that dispose of bodies in ways that release them - allow for decomposition - expect that the energy of resurrection is already at hand. In all circumstances, we grieve for those who have died. Often we even grieve for ourselves. Resurrection comes as the energy of one's life is allowed to move others into a new space - a new time - a new understanding of life full of the energy that is endless - hope. I find hope to be some of that energy of resurrection. It is able to kick my butt and move me beyond myself and see myself within a grand life-giving agenda. I love the scene of Jesus telling the women at the tomb to tell the others to meet up with him in Galilee - the energy of resurrection. Keep moving - keep stepping out of line - keep decomposing - keep taking what is and make it what can be.
There are so many powers in our lives that attempt to embalm us so that we cannot be a part of the energy of resurrection. The power to keep things as they are become for me the power of death - the power of the demonic. Think of the man from Jesus' parable who not only had barns that were full - he torn those down to build ones that could hold more and more. Where is the energy in that story. It is put in a box - a vault - a silo. It is utterly contained. Death rules and the possibility of an expansive new life is shut down. He is so out of touch with the energy of resurrection he only consults with himself as to what he is doing. Yes there is much for him - but it is like a dead weight. Yet if he looked up and looked around that grain could energize his life and the lives of all his neighbors - both the rich and the poor. The energy of resurrection opens our eyes and opens our hearts and opens wide the life of a peaceable reign for anyone and everyone. That is some kind of energy - some kind of life coming out of death - some kind of resurrection to new life. Let it out of the box.
TRRR
