Practicing Resurrection

Easter 2
April 11, 2010
at Our Lady of Grace Monastery

Order of Saint Benedict

Rev. 1:4-8
John 20:19-31

They had been in process of becoming a community for nearly 3 years, having received invitation to be part a select group of learners, learning and sharing ministry experiences. They had changed in that time: changed residences and occupations, leaving one vocation to heed another. For some there were more radical or transformative changes than for others. They had seen much together and sometimes in smaller groups. They had witnessed wonderful teaching and preaching, shared amazing stories, experienced death and life, told of weeping parents and sisters and brothers in the throes of illness and death, only to discover life.

They had broken bread together, slept together, shared the journey, asked questions, argued and laughed, claimed to be the best group and had their feet washed, and were anointed with fragrant oils and holy touch. They had put some puzzling pieces together and had been woven into a one of a kind garment, with some frayed ends and some dropped stitches, not always evenly knit to perfection,
but beautiful none the less. They had some mountainous memories, well spring occasions, some dark valleys, and yes, even nodded off to sleep on an occasion or two.

They had been given the gift of invitation to become friends, with the challenge to grow in grace; to walk with prayer-filled steps, to pray in new ways, to mind their thoughts, to face their fears, to walk on water, to perform miracles, to practice resurrection.

And it all came down to these final days, and they were not sure what was to come, of what to hope for. They thought they heard: “It is finished” ….it’s over and done.

So here we are…closed in. Presently in a safe place, not wanting to leave, knowing we must. Wondering. Having shared pain and sorrow and confessed deepest desires, longings, the need to know freedom, forgiveness, acceptance, in our own ongoing conversions...

Longing to keep hold of what has been offered in these sacred events now past…we sit...empty handed, feeling a bit fragmented, needing to breath plotting our next individual moves. Wondering


Invited into the Gospel story, we are invited to practice resurrection.

So this is what I believe… my own practicing of resurrection, inviting you to test this out and to step into this practice with me.

The Living Christ is here, among us, behind the closed doors of this building, this room, this heart, this life. The Living Christ is standing, sitting, sharing our empty hands and hearts as we expose the wounds of our bodies and souls.

Sr. Luke, Sr. Betty … you have been Christ to us, as have all the Sisters at Our Lady of Grace, as you have welcomed us as Christ. Thank you for helping me to practice resurrection by seeing the Living Christ in you.

Women Touched by Grace, you are the Living Christ, revealing your woundedness, not denying any of it, but offering that woundedness as a sign of resurrection.
Thank you. You come, offering the Living Presence of Christ.

PEACE
Jesus said among them saying, “Peace be with you.” 3 times in this passage his greeting is “Peace be with you.” On the night in which he was betrayed, according to this same gospel writer he said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you… not like the peace of this world. Do not let your hearts be troubled.. [nor] afraid.” (John 14)

In a few moments we will be invited to stand and share the Peace of Christ. What is it we share? A greeting. A blessing. A prayer. But it is also a practice; we are practicing resurrection, acknowledging that we recognize the Living Presence of Christ in one another with our own wounds exposed. This is Christ is us and among us and with us. The mystics, (Mystic Cowgirls included), practice peace, solitude, silence, serenity… for they have come to know that practicing peace is the gateway to practicing the presence of Christ.

SEEING
The mystics have also taught seeing with the 3^rd eye, a God vision, and listening with the 3^rd ear, or the ear of the heart where holiness resides. Thomas trusted in his TWO eyes. He needed to practice seeing with the third eye. This gospel writer, as we may know as John, a mystic, fills his writing with language about “seeing” and “believing” and is urging his readers to keep on seeing beyond the vision of our 2 eyes and listening with more than our 2 ears, to practice seeing and to keep on believing, to practice resurrection of Christ among us.

THE BREATH
Jesus breathed on them. Take a moment. Breathe. “Receive the Holy Spirit”, he said. God, in creation, breathed life into ADAMAH. (Genesis 2) Ezekiel, the prophet of God, tells of his directive from God to prophesy to the WIND, to the BREATH, to breathe life into that which was dead. (Ezekiel 37) Jesus breathed life into those behind closed doors, who were wounded, wondering, uncertain, and frightened; breathed holiness into them.

Take a moment. Breathe. Remember.

And then Jesus spoke of FORGIVENESS.
A few days prior, Jesus had not only encouraged them to be at peace, but told them they would all run and hide and even deny him. Now his first word is “peace” and his second is about forgiveness. He doesn’t say “I forgive you, live in peace”. He has is already done that.

from Desmond Tutu and daughter:
Failure and shame shut your eyes So you can’t see me.
Anguish and pain shriek with your voice and you can’t hear me.
Guilt makes you turn aside and you think I have walked away. But through it all I am right here,

Right here where you wept lonely tears for me,
Right here where you thought you didn’t want me to be,
I AM… Between, within, and all around you…. I AM

The disciples' work now was to forgive themselves and to forgive each other… to decide what they would retain…which burdening sin they would decide to retain and keep and continue to carry. And who gets to carry it???? I suspect the “retainer”.
Forgiveness frees not only the offender but also the one offended.

Practicing resurrection Jesus offers peace, Jesus breathes holiness, Jesus invites freedom in forgiveness…All in the context of being sent.

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

We cannot stay here.
We have to open the doors and go out.
We have to continue to practice resurrection, even when our eyes and ears tells us otherwise.
We have to practice the living presence of Christ who we will meet through being like Christ, through being Christ, who invites us to be like God, forgiving sin and be freed through merciful forgiveness, living in peace, and so living in the presence of Christ, being signs of Christ even in our woundedness so that we may keep on believing and living into that for which we were called. To become the living Christ.

…to you, 20 Women Touched by Grace, and the churches and people you serve across the continent….

Grace to you and peace from God who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before the throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the earth

[As the Father has sent me, so I send you]

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and our God, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. AMEN.

What are you seeing?

Easter John 20:1-18

What we see is largely dependant on what we anticipate seeing. Over time our eyes slip into the habit of seeing what they are conditioned to see. If we are to look for something new, chances are we will have to be intentional to do so.
After this past week of warm weather and sunshine as I look out my front window onto the garden I see one last snowplowed pile of snow lingering in the shadows of the undergrowth. With a brief glance one sees all the debris of winter, last year’s leaves matted or wedged in crevices. It doesn’t look much different than November with trees stripped bare. Looking for signs of spring and new growth, however, instead of the debris and dead remains of winter, one can see life sprouting everywhere. It depends on what you are looking for, on where one chooses to focus their eye. To some degree, we see what we want to see; we see a glass half full while another sees the same glass half empty.

The disciple John, who is credited for writing the Gospel by his name, refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Much of his account of Jesus, especially this Easter story, is about seeing and believing what is seen (see also 20:19-31).
Look with me again at this passage of the first 18 verses. Nine times there is reference made to seeing or looking (vs 1, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18).

It was “dark” when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. Can you imagine being in a graveyard in the dark and finding an open tomb? I imagine it might be pretty scary. It says she “saw that the stone had been removed” and by her statement to the disciples, there must have been enough light and enough courage that she peered through the darkness to see that nothing was there… no body. So did she run in fear, in anger, or in despair to tell Peter and John that there was no body? She saw no body. So the 2 disciples come running. I wonder if it was still dark or if there was more light to see by. John beat Peter and “looked in”. He saw strips of cloth. Was he too frightened to go inside? Then Peter arrived and “went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen” as well as other neatly folded cloth. Is that all that Peter saw? Then John finally went inside as well….perhaps courage in numbers. In his own words about himself John says, “he saw and believed.” What did he see? What did he believe?

At this point in John’s Gospel story, there has not been any word from an angel or Jesus indicating resurrection. Even John writes that the disciples “still did not understand that Jesus had to rise from the dead”. Did John and Peter see simply that there was no body, just cloths? Is what John “believed” that some one had stolen Jesus’ body? Did he “believe” that this was yet another “unbelievable”, incredible, further piece of nightmare continuing on into day? What did their eyes see and tell them?.... signs of death? signs of theft? OR could they, in this same empty space see signs of endless possibilities? signs of mystery? signs of God at work? signs of wonder? We don’t know. We only know, according to the story so far, that they left and went to wherever it was that they were staying. We don’t know what they were believing about what they saw, or failed to see.

Mary, stayed behind alone, with blurred vision from tear-filled eyes. In typical fashion when something is unbelievable we have to see it again, and so, again, she looked into the tomb just to see if she overlooked something the first time. And yes, this time she sees 2 angels, all in white, clear as day, sitting where Jesus’ body should have been, asking her why she is crying. What a silly question to ask anyone in a graveyard. What is more surprising is that Mary is not surprised to see angels nor to hear them talking to her. Maybe she didn’t see clearly or perhaps only later on figured did she figure out that they were angels. She turned from them and scripture says “she saw Jesus”… but she did realize that it was Jesus. How typical for us all. Mary was looking for a lifeless body. She was not looking for a standing, talking, alive person. Tear-filled eyes or not, she saw Jesus but did not see Jesus. Even Jesus’ voice isn’t enough for recognition when he asked her who she is looking for, because she believed he was dead. It is only when he says her name, "Mary", that Mary both sees and hears clearly.

What is it that opened her ears and eyes? Was it the sound of her own name? Was it the inflection of his voice? Was it a change in her vision? Early Christian mystics glean from Jesus’ own teachings that perhaps we need a “third eye”, an inner eye, an inner vision, a Spirit-of-God-infused seeing that allows us to see more fully, more clearly, more deeply what truly is. Remember it was Blind Bartimaeus who could clearly see through his blind eyes who Jesus was while the religious leaders couldn’t see God in him. While our eyes can deceive, the inner eye can see truth.
After all the “looking” and seeing, finally Mary’s eyes were opened to see the possibilities of God, of life, of resurrection, of the impossible.

And so I have to ask, “What am I looking for?” “What am I expecting to see?” “Do your or my expectations condition what one sees and doesn't see?” As I look at life, my life, my community’s life, my church’s life, our world, what do I see? Do I see “no body?” or do I see possibilities? Am I looking for all that’s wrong? Or can I see all that is good and possible? Do I see signs of death and decay and winter’s debris? or do I see changing seasons, spring, potential, mystery, and life? And when I listen to this story from long ago, what do I see and hear? Can I hear my own name called out and see resurrection life here and now around me? Can I see this resurrection story fresh and new today, in 2010? Am I blinded by my own hopelessness that I can’t see God’s life right in front of me? Do I become ensnared by the losses, the death, the problems and disappointments, all that is not good and fair and right with the world, that I can no longer see that the Body of Christ is still alive and present and vital even in the midst of graveyard experiences? What do I believe about what I see?

St. Paul, whose letters to the churches were written before the Gospels were written, never writes about an empty tomb. His writing doesn't focus on an absent body, but rather on a living presence. Henri Nouwen also writes of his own conditioned responses to see and hear mostly the troubles and problems and has to make the conscious choice to look for and listen for the living presence and the life and hope that surrounds us in a multitude of ways if only we choose to see what is before us through eyes of grace and faith.

What we see is largely dependant on what we anticipate seeing. To some degree, we see what we want to see. What are looking for? Are you looking for what is missing? Or what is present? Do you look for God to be absence or expect to see God in every moment? Do you see death in every turn or the endless possibilities and ways in which life overcomes death?

One more thing about this story, Mary wanted to hold onto Jesus, to have him as he was, to reclaim what was. But he told her not to hold onto him, that things were changing, that she needed to look and see and be different than the past. Life was present, as always, yet all things were changing. He invited her to tell what she saw, and she did. “I have seen the Lord!” How is your looking? Your seeing? Your vision? Are you seeing the living Body of Christ? Or do you see “no body”? Do you see death or life? A tomb or empty space that lends possibilities? And where will your seeing take you?