There is so much intensity in the Triduum: the tender Thursday ritual of washing each other’s feet, and the heavy knowing of how that evening unfolded in love and betrayal;
Our touching the large cross, and being seized by the harsh reality of Jesus’ Crucifixion; holding the quiet, pondering and praying. All followed the next evening by boundless joy, exhilarating music, fire, singing “Christ broke the chains of the darkness!”
Are not our hearts full?
For some these following weeks may be a bit melancholic, a letdown as the intensity of catharsis and the joy of Easter gives way to the work of discipleship.
For those gathered here, and our friends listening at home with coffee:
I suggest we all take time to steep ourselves in the Presence, Joy and Praise that resound in today’s readings – they were written to encourage us! (You may even choose to read all 5 pages of 1 Peter) Let’s not rush past Easter too soon. Let’s savor, pray and prepare because Easter is just the beginning, the kickoff event for believers!
Imagine those first disciples, hunkered down in fear and loss, only to emerge rejoicing and amazed as Jesus appeared before them! He shared his peace, showed his wounds – in Thomas’ case, letting him touch them – so they could believe he’d risen.
Then they were sent out, to take his love to the World.
Now it’s time for us to take that great love and hope ever deeper into our lives, communities, and the world. This call gains urgency by the day, and we – the baptized and the seekers- are responsible to contribute what we can of our time, skills, energy – and prayer.
Peter’s first (likely only) letter is studded with the words Hope and Joy. I imagine him working with a diligent editor to create this gem; Peter was a fisherman, not a writer. But the Hope and Joy, the devotion to Jesus -and his boldness- are all Peter’s.
He reminds us that living out genuine faith will make us suffer but it will not destroy us, even in death. We need not fear, for the Cross is not the last word, the Risen Jesus is.
I love that Peter wove Baptism throughout this letter; such that in places it reads like a Baptismal liturgy. He alone refers to the salvation of Baptism as not only a cleansing, but one that penetrates to the hidden person of the heart, and creates in the baptized a new consciousness.
Our enthusiastic embrace of Tom Zanzig’s granddaughter Saturday night was a powerful witness and celebration of her decision to be baptised, and renewing for us too! May that joyful ritual strengthen Amelia on her faith journey, and her new consciousness guide her on the way.
Beloved scripture scholar Walter Bruggeman wrote of this letter of Peter that “The second concrete evidence of the resurrection is the body of the church that lives in Easter response. It is this people that is given “a new birth” (1 Peter 1:3); is ready to suffer in the world for its obedience to Jesus (verse 6); and who come, in daily practice, to a sense of well-being that culminates in joy (verse 8), in salvation” (verse 9), and an inheritance that is “imperishable” (verse 4). “
Salvation is a weighty word.
Paul Tillich taught that it derives from salvus; meaning “health” and “whole”, and applies to every act of healing illness, servitude, sin, demons, even the untimely power of death.
Salvation is a quality of present life, the wholeness of being here and now. Salve for both present and future.
We strive to bring that salve in times of chaos and war through concerted efforts at political and creative resistance. We bring salve locally by seeking justice for our neighbors made vulnerable by poverty, by race, by immigration; refugees fleeing violence or climate disaster, those impacted by our truly criminal sentencing system, mental illness, gender identity or homelessness…
In this age, we hand over our lives not to executioners, or lions! but to the often frustrating work of meetings, letters, calls and difficult conversations.
Engaging thus is how we now claim each of our neighbors as siblings in Christ.
God’s kingdom is ushered in not by war – as blasphemers now suggest, but in the embrace of community. The Beloved Community, as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said.
We pray that our own baptism continues to penetrate to the hidden person of our heart. May our Easter response make us a community ever more credible as witnesses to the resurrection.