Of losing and remembering: Some post-Easter thoughts
The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. It is the core fact--the central event--of Christianity and, as such, sometimes kind of merely assumed rather than truly remembered and celebrated by many "church people." But we cannot overestimate the significance of what happened that Sunday morning after Jesus was crucified and we should take every opportunity to remind ourselves of this astounding reality and its implications for everything--all our lives, all our dreams, all our hopes.
So much of what we take for granted about life and death, and what's important and meaningful comes to us from the culture in which we are born, educated and live. We simply breathe in so much of our worldviews from what others around us take for granted. Which is another reason that remembering the Resurrection is so valuable; it is a story powerful enough to jolt our worldviews and taken-for-granteds, opening us to not just a new way of looking at life but a new kind of life, with different ways of telling our stories, different values and different priorities.
In a society so focused on success and achievement, on acquiring and having, perhaps the Resurrection story has its most profound effect on how we measure our lives and our attitude to winning and losing. Christian writer Ron Sider puts it like this: "Those who understand the empty tomb can afford to lose now" (I am Not a Social Activist).
Because of the sacrifice--the loss--of Jesus and His resurrection victory, faithfulness is always more important than success, no matter how we measure that success. Not only is what Jesus did the foundation for this reassessment of our lives, it is also the model: "He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward" (Hebrews 12:2, NLT).
When "we understand the empty tomb" we can confront our inevitable disappointments and losses in a different way. No longer do we have to win, guard and maintain our image or be a "success" to justify our place in the world or our sense of worth. No longer does our opinion or even belief have to win every argument or have the last word. The last word--or the Word that will be the last word--has already been spoken.
Almost paradoxically, this understanding of the Resurrection--meaning we can afford to lose now--also means we can't lose. 1 Corinthians 15 is one of the most profound New Testament chapters on the meaning of the Resurrection and the hope it offers us. It is a grand and sometimes lofty philosophical discourse, but Paul ends on a remarkably practical note: "So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord's work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless" (1 Corinthians 15:58, NLT).
Of course, it is precisely this assurance that means we do not have to be so uptight about winning and losing today. So often contrary to the values assumed and imposed upon us in almost everything we are told and taught, the eternal realities of the Resurrection--life frees us from the need for immediate results and instant wins. "Our response to the hope we have for eternity is to commit ourselves to working for God in the here and now, knowing that what we do has eternal significance" (Julie Clawson, Everyday Justice).
The Resurrection must change everything--including our perceptions and preoccupations about winning and losing. If it doesn't, the Resurrection is merely an historical oddity, barely worth remembering at all.
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 | Nathan Brown | Nathan Brown is a book editor and former magazine editor for the Adventist Church in the South Pacific, based just out of Melbourne, Australia. He has degrees in law, literature and English. He is married to Angela and they have two mismatched dogs and sponsor kids in a number of countries. Nathan is the author of four books: Pastor George (2010), a biography of the first Australian Aborigine to be ordained as an Adventist pastor; a novel Nemesis Train (2008); Seven Reasons Life is Better with God (2007); and the thought-provoking Relevation (2006). He has also edited a number of books, most recently Ordinary People-Generous God (2010). |
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Re: Of losing and remembering: Some post-Easter thoughts
This raises the inevitable question of why Adventists have been so focused on the death of Jesus, especially the "rest" day that he was in the tomb, to the extent of almost passing over the Resurrection without which there would be no Christian church. It is the raison d'etre for Christianity, and yet is seldom mentioned except one day of the year: Easter.
His death is given much more attention, with the numerous theories of its reasons and benefits, all of which would be nill, and yet without the Resurrection there would be NO Christian church, no Christianity, only the historical record of a short-lived Jewish sect, one of many.
Why has this been so neglected? Is it because of the fear of being associated with Sunday worship? Or the Roman Catholic church? After all, had the Roman Catholic church not preserved the NT record would we even have known about this greatest event giving birth to Christianity?
Re: Of losing and remembering: Some post-Easter thoughts
"This raises the inevitable question of why Adventists have been so focused on the death of Jesus..."
Actually Elaine, Nathan's blog raises no such question. Only you raise that question, like a loud belch - a question that never occurred to me in reading his column. Nor did it occur to thousands of other Adventists who celebrated communion and the resurrection in glorious services at Loma Linda University Church last weekend.
Suppose I were to tell you that it was a spectacularly beautiful spring Sabbath here in The Inland Empire of Southern California today. Now what do you expect someone would think if you responded: "Yes, well that raises the inevitable question of why it was raining cats and dogs on this very date thirty years ago."? You wouldn't rely on a paleoclimatologist to tell you what the weather is like today, would you? All you would need to do is look out the window. So why are you obsessed with superimposing your paleoAdventist "hockey stick" on the personal testimony of contemporary Adventists? Pull back the curtains you have drawn to shield from the sunlight the memories you love to hate. You might be pleasantly surprised to find that there are millions of Adventists who believe, like Nathan B. and myself, that Christ's resurrection changes everything - each moment of every day.
Re: Of losing and remembering: Some post-Easter thoughts
Nathan,
Should I assume that you are still quite young? At least younger than the average SDA member, which is 51.
Those of us do have memories and while celebrating the Resurrection is something most SDA churches enjoy, at least in the ones I have attended recently, it has not always been so. In the past, there was no recognition of Easter as it was labeled a "Catholic (anti-Christ) celebration that should be ignored.
I applaud the rather recent change in celebrating the Resurrection. The SDA church is now in full accord with Christianity in recognizing that is the sole and only reason for a Christian church.
Re: Of losing and remembering: Some post-Easter thoughts
No, Elaine, I prefer to think of myself as a youthful senior - but well past the average age of 51.
I think you are forcing theological significance into the Church's historical refusal to celebrate the resurrection at Easter that was never there. The Church didn't celebrate Christ's death at Easter either; it didn't celebrate His birth at Christmas. But it had nothing to do with a desire to emphasize Christ's death over His resurrection. Recognizing these Holydays from the pulpit was a definite no-no. I always felt that reticence was mostly due to a fear of associating Christ Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and Easter bunnies.
I deeply appreciate that contemporary Adventism - less hung up with being unique and separate - has embraced the spiritual significance of these Holy times. But I also recognize that the dogmas of the past, which my parents embraced, preserved for them and the Church a different, but equally valid, sense of identity, freedom and holiness. Is it really fair to use contemporary religious standards and values to denigrate our spiritual and religious heritage?
Re: Of losing and remembering: Some post-Easter thoughts
Elaine: I now see how much pleasure you take in being provocative. (Duh!)
The resurrection is actually one of at least three (3) co-equal reasons "for the Christian church," the other two being Jesus's prophesied and exemplary life and His prophesied and propitiatory death; both of which, by very definition, were at least as foundational to the Christian church as was the resurrection.
The fact of the matter is that Adventists never de-emphasized the resurrection. They have however historically de-emphasized Easter, primarily because of its historical links to paganism, and secondarily because of its (mis)application to the man-made first day sanctity narrative.
Stephen Foster, Atoday Blogger
Re: Of losing and remembering: Some post-Easter thoughts
That the SDA church has been reluctant to celebrate Easter is not only well known but as you both have said, it was a "no-no" because if its association.
We know little of Jesus birth (conflicting reports made much later) and childhood, but that surely does not prevent our celebrating his birth nor his resurrection. Just as any day can be devoted to worshiping God, so any day that man has chosen to enjoy and worship the Lord, he will never turn away.
Yes, the entire life of Jesus should be recognized; but although his death is important, had there been no resurrection, his death would be no less than many prophets before him. The resurrection made all the difference as Paul and the early NT writings repeated. The resurrection was the initiating factor in the beginnings of Christianity, and it was Paul who first preached this.
It is also a fact of history that shortly afterward, the new believers began meeting on the first day of the week and by the mid-second century it was their preferred meeting time. This implies no sacredness of the day, only that his resurrection day had special meaning to them: "The Lord is Risen"
Re: Of losing and remembering: Some post-Easter thoughts
Ella M
I'm not that young myself, but I never remember a time when Christmas and Easter were not celebrated in church or academy. A few might have brought up the pagan association, but most of us ignored them.
Where did you go to church? Rural? I understand that in some of the Caribbean countries there are groups who don't celebrate the holidays.
Actually in England Easter is celebrated much more than Christmas in the SDA Church (and probably other Protestant churches which would show that it is cultural).