During Holy Week, we read stories about the feelings of defeat experienced by Jesus and his followers. At the cross, those who believed in Jesus’ vision of God’s reign saw their hopes suffocated. Where was God in the midst of such turmoil and despair? But, in the dawning of a new day, they were reminded of God’s everlasting love and faithfulness. Though the powers that seek to rob people of faith may seem to be in control, the renewing spirit of God can bring life out of death, hope out of despair, a future out of barrenness.
This year, from what are you seeking rest?
What kind of resurrection do you need?
What kind of resurrection does your faith community need?
It is a different easter from what most believers have known. Prayer vigils are happening in makeshift home chapels. People have to create silence in their home rather than go to silence at a church. Youth won’t be leading a sunrise service. No breakfast in the fellowship hall. Clergy are not testing the temp of the water in the baptismal. No one will check to make sure there is enough communion. You know, there are usually more people at easter worship. Like Christmas, let’s offer our best hospitality to the seasonal or first time worshipper.
A colleague told me about a realization during this different lent and holy week. The realization that he didn’t need to be the best apologists for Jesus or Christianity. It’s not his job to lead people to Jesus or the Church. As a believer, living as the best example of Jesus was his calling. As a minister, helping others live their lives as the best example of Jesus she or he can is his calling, his “work.”
I don’t serve in “preaching ministry” which means I am not obliged to have words to share with a congregation weekly. When I do preach, I remind the those gathered what I’ve observed about humanity.
Each person is seeking to hear and experience the good news of God. The Lord’s mercies never cease; the Lord’s mercies are new every morning; and the Lord’s faithfulness extends beyond our ability to see in a mirror dimly, or recognize the image of God in others as well as in our own face.
When you get outside the doctrine and dogma of Christian tradition’s interpretation of who Jesus is and what Jesus means you remember that the authentic Jesus pointed to God and not himself. You remember how he met other people and treated other people. You remember how he held those with political and religious authority or power accountable for the divergence of their words and their living.
Jesus never claimed to be God. Those are Christianity’s words, not his. And, he never claimed to be dying in anyone’s place because it was God’s salvation plan all along. Those are Christianity’s words giving Jesus an origin story and a resurrection worthy of belief. Those that followed Jesus in the early decades after his death lived differently as they interacted with culture and their neighbors. Maybe they listened to the beatitudes closer or applied the samaritan parable better than we, than I. There is quite enough “sinners in the hands of an angry God” theology, death and death dealers out there dividing the world with religious and political walls that exploit fear, exploit humanity, and exploit God. I wonder if that theology can ever be allowed to die.
This different easter, reminds me a quote from the film, “Second Hand Lions.” Hub is giving his nephew, Walter, a part of his “what every boy need to know to be a man” speech. Really, it’s not gender specific.
Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man [sic] needs to believe in the most: that people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; that love, true love, never dies… You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.
Things worth believing in. That’s what this different easter might be doing for people. How can God’s everlasting love and continued faithfulness give you hope in a time when you will “go forth in the dance of the merrymakers”?
I don’t base my opinion of a politician on whether or not like or dislike him or her. I’m a registered independent voter. Both Democrats and Republicans can do good things and bad things in their attempt to govern while balancing their ideological commitments, responding to lobbyists, and the public. I listen. I can respect your handling of an issue or crisis even if I don’t like you or disagree with your position. Natural leaders, lead. The inner moral compass about the common good kicks in and the ego fades away. The good ones I’ve witnessed don’t need to be complimented for leading. They accept that some will throw tomatoes and some will applaud. Even those who are politicians don’t often seek out the spotlight. It has been said that a person’s real character is displayed during times of crisis. My experience of life persuades me to think that statement is true.
When I think of President Trump’s character and that of those closely connected to him, what comes to mind is a scene from the 1997 film, “Titanic.” With the ship sinking, Rose, her mother Ruth, fiancé Cal, and Molly Brown have a moment waiting to board a lifeboat. Cal’s response to, “half the people on this ship are going to die” is the depth of President Trump’s character that I’ve witnessed.
The current President of these United States is running the Federal government like a caricature of a crime family. In this COVID-19 crisis, the President is behaving like the caricature of a boss who doesn’t care what the underbosses are doing in their State as long as he gets his cut and his compliment. The President’s character is a mix of De Niro’s portrayal of Al Capone in “The Untouchables” and Nicholson’s, Col. Jessep, in “A Few Good Men.” Exchanges with the media are like watching the pivotal scene from “A Few Good Men.” Like Col. Jessep, the President expects a thank you, no matter how he does his job and despises being questioned. The problem for Americans, the Senate didn’t have the character of the military court. Actually, it enables the failings of the President.
I don’t think this is just an opinion. The evidence of the President’s behavior, much of it accessible via video since his inauguration and before, bares out the fact of a brief argument about his leadership and character.
1. The President expects to be complimented for his every breath and he cannot handle criticism, constructive or other.
2. He over promises, blames others for his failures, and thinks of himself first before the country. If what his supporters, Cabinet members, or life long public servants do effects his perception of status, he turns on them. The list of former staff members and “acting” staff is the debris of a Presidency built on salesmanship, graft, and transactional leadership.
3. The President has used those that voted for him and they have used him. Senator McConnell held open a SCOTUS seat and it paid off. The Federal bench has been altered for a generation or more which is what Vice President Pence, Ralph Reed, Jerry Falwell Jr, and others like them traded for the Presidents grab of power and dollars. The tax cuts, deregulation, and intentional sparse governance enables the President to hide his misdeeds wagering, rightly so far, that he will not be accountable to anyone but himself.
4. This President has profited from the Office of the Presidency while holding the Office of the Presidency. He has lived out his own words, “to the victor go the spoils.”
5. Everything with the President is me and mine. The Grand Old Party has gone along. Visual evidence indicates that Senators like Rubio and Graham value their position and GOP power more than their character or moral compass. If our culture were still based in honor, their family names would be dishonored for years to come as would countless GOP State and Federal representatives who have taken the position, “our President right or wrong.” What fuels their fealty to the President: fear, power, money? What?
Here in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, a lot of people are going to die. The crime family caricature of leadership is driving up the cost of needed items and it appears at the moment that fealty, or cash, determines who gets needed supplies. Before it is over, many of the supporters of the President are going to find out they are not part of “the better half,” though he has relied on that other half to enrich his family and shield him from accountability for diminishing the Nation’s character and using the Government for personal profit. And, this acting character affects everyone in the orbit of the President. Life long public servants are giving their last full measure of devotion to this country during this crisis of character Presidency. While the President demonstrates his lack of empathy, his self pity, and his self-professed “greatness,” he will give the public a show and someone else to blame for problems and deaths. It is what arrogant incompetence looks like. The President lacks the humility to hold the Office of the President. A minority of voters didn’t care.