Living Resurrection in the Covid-19 Gloom
So here we are, week 7 of lock-down and starting
the fifth week of Easter. It is all very different this year. Well, at least in
our doom and uncertainty we get uplifting readings about the risen Jesus
celebrating resurrection and eternal life. Except we do not. Stephen gets
stoned and Jesus is in his final pep talk with his friends and disciples as
they and he prepare for the horrors and uncertainty that lie ahead. So, I guess
it is time to start living out for ourselves in our own time of uncertainty what
resurrection and ascension might mean for us.
In our grief of what has been and uncertainty
about what will be, we join those disciples in the room with Jesus, and those
disciples John wrote for listening to this version of Jesus final summary of
everything that had been said and done up to this point. We are invited to
abide in the compassion and love of God made known in Jesus. And that involves
living this simple message.
“Trust that God is the way Jesus told us and
demonstrated to us. That means two things, especially as we now think
canonically and include more of the story of Jesus from the other gospels: we
can trust in the God of compassion in which there’s a place for us (even if we
know nothing else!) and we can know that the meaning of life is to share that
compassion in the world - there’s a place for all! We can join that compassion
wherever we recognise its ‘Jesus shape’, acknowledging it as life and truth and
the only way.”[1][1]
I wonder where we see that Jesus shape in the way people are responding to our current situation. What might that invite us to?
As we wait for what will be, may we abide in God's
compassion, and live that compassion for ourselves and others. Be kind to
yourself and others. Stay safe. Stay calm. Wash your hands.
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