meditatio at the water's edge

Resurrection
Resurrection is at the core of our faith and hope in Jesus. It is strange that it is also one of the least talked about topics in the church today. Sure, we talk about Jesus' resurrection, especially around Easter, but I believe that it is no longer held consistently in our thoughts and in our imagination. Our neglect of the resurrection has left us in pretty poor shape when it comes to understanding where we and this world in which we live are headed.

The resurrection that Jesus experienced was the beginning of what God is going to do with the whole world--that is, to bring life where there was death, healing where there was brokenness, and vindication to those this world has condemned. As Paul says it, "Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor 15:20). The resurrection means that God is going to do for us, and indeed for creation itself, what he has done for Jesus.

The resurrection means that the creation is not evil (as the Gnostic heretics of the second century suggested), but that it has great value to God, and because it has great value, God is going to renew it and bring life and light to all those places where death and darkness now seem to reign.

The resurrection means that we too will be renewed in such a way that the pain and death and decay that we experience in this present age will be done away with as the age to come enfolds our very lives. This will not be some kind of disembodied, floating-spirit kind of existence. No, the resurrection means that God will bring us to life again as beautifully recreated embodied-spirits--fully animated by the Spirit of God himself.

The resurrection means that what we do here and now matters. In one very real sense, the resurrection has already begun within us. This is what Paul was getting at when he said that "if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him" (Rom 6:8). The resurrection life begins in the here and now as we share in the death and resurrection of Jesus by our very life together in him. So get busy living the resurrected life!