Hello my friends,

This newsletter arrived in your inbox on Easter morning. As any pastor will tell you, Holy Week is a breathlessly busy week for many of us.

There’s even a corny joke we pastors will tell to each other: “After Easter, Jesus is raised and clergy are dead!” I warned you, it was corny.

This was especially true for me this year. As I am writing this, I am fighting cold like symptoms, which always happens to me over Advent and Holy Week due to stress.

So if you’ll permit me, I don’t have any new resources to suggest this week. I just want to dialogue with you a little bit about how Easter encounters us today.

Like many of you are I’m sure, I am carrying a lot of grief for the world around me.

Easter is supposed to be this time of celebration and incredible joy, but for many, it holds something different.

I think of so many of my friends who have been so hurt by the church. Friends who have either been pushed out for simply being themselves or left because of harmful beliefs and practices. I can imagine this day holds a lot of grief over loss of community, belonging, and a faith they once held so deeply.

Can new life really come out of this?

I think of the continued preventable cycles of violence and death in our country and the lives that have been lost because of it, all while there seems to be little to no effort from those in power to try to put an end to it.

Can new life really come out of this?

I think of climate change, the economy, tensions and wars between nations, and the abuse of positions of power, all while the poor, the marginalized, the vulnerable, the disabled, the refugee, and the oppressed as numerous as they are, are all caught in the middle and suffer the most, so often without their voices being heard.

Can new life really come out of this?

Asking this question, “can new life really come out of a world like ours today?” Has actually made the narrative of Easter more profound for me with every passing year.

I find myself in awe of all the powerful and even poetic parallels of Christ’s death and resurrection that connect to God’s purpose and intentions seen in the garden of Eden.

Notice how much garden imagery there is in both narratives?

In the garden, humanity strayed from God and Jesus prayed for the strength to remain obedient.

In the garden, sin came from a tree and Jesus conquered sin on a tree.

In the garden, humanity felt shame in their nakedness and Jesus hung naked removing shame from the world.

In the garden, the first fruits of sin brought division and death to humanity. In the garden, Jesus walked out of a tomb as the first fruits of resurrection and eternal life.

In the garden, woman was blamed for taking action and carrying the fruit to Adam, who was largely inactive and said so little. In the garden of the tomb, in all four gospel accounts, women were the first to carry the good news of the fruit of the resurrection to the male disciples, who were locked away in a room in fear.

In the garden, humanity became subject to futility and death. In the garden of the tomb, Christ conquered futility and death to rescue humanity and restore all of creation.

In the garden, the great abundance that was given was dismissed as nothing. In the garden of the tomb, Christ brought the abundance of life out of the nothingness of death.

These, and so many others, are the great reversals of Holy Week. What parallels do you see?

I also find it deeply profound that Christ’s wounds can still be seen by those who witness him after the resurrection. This divine, resurrected lord is still baring the marks of human suffering and death, all when he had the power to be fully healed. He ascends into heaven still baring the marks of his wounds, predicting his return. Why wouldn’t his body be fully healed? Why keep his wounds and scares?

For me, it is another picture of Christ’s deep love for us. For me it speaks to Christ’s solidarity with us in our broken and wounded world today. Jesus keeping his scars says, “until humanity can experience full healing and restoration, I am not going to either. They are still suffering and so I will use my wounded hands and feet to never stop working towards their healing and redemption until it is complete (Isaiah 53:5).

It is okay to be honest about our own wounds, especially on Easter. Even our resurrected Lord was honest about his wounds in front of all who encountered him.

This is the heart behind why I am still a Christian today. I deeply want to see life overcome death in this world. I deeply want to see justice overcome injustice and peace overcome violence. I want resurrection, especially in the places where there seems to be nothing but pain, suffering, and death. The way Jesus did this, through humble, self sacrificial love, is still the most compelling way I have heard about this work of redemption being done in the world.

What are the dead places in this world that you want to see resurrection happen? Where do you want to see peace overwhelm violence? Where do you want to see humility outweigh arrogance? Where do you want to suffering cease and human dignity restored? What places do you want to see justice roll like a river?

It certainly can be a weary time of waiting for these things to come, can’t it? Especially when there seems to be so many working against such things in our world, even from those who claim to be followers of Jesus.

I am so weary from not seeing this work of redemption in abundance within Christianity. The very people who claim to follow this resurrected Lord.

I’m so weary of the kind of Christianity that is known only by its condemnation and its preoccupation with the “sin” of people it doesn’t even know.

I’m so weary of the kind of Christianity that justifies sacrificing all integrity in order to “win” and gain power at any cost.

I’m so weary of the kind of Christianity that has somehow arrived at the conclusion that controlling others is the same as loving them.

I’m so weary of the kind of Christianity that refuses to be humble, meek, and gentle.

I’m so weary of the kind of Christianity that defines its religious and political duty in the world in terms of “war” and sees the very people Jesus calls us to love as enemies to be destroyed.

I’m so weary of the kind of Christianity that is so convinced that it is right, that not even Jesus would be allowed to tell it where it is wrong.

I’m so weary of the kind of Christianity that’s so preoccupied with its own self interests that it ignores everyone else’s.

I’m so weary of the kind of Christianity that only seems to know how to relate to the world in ways that look nothing like Jesus.

We need a revival of repentance within Christianity.

As a people who claim to believe in the resurrection, may this kind of Christianity be allowed to die and one that looks more like Jesus be allowed to rise in its place.

I am so thankful for all of you. I really do hope this day brings you hope and joy as we continue our journey together, working towards a life of peace together.

I’d love to hear any thoughts you might have on this reflection. If you have any, just respond to this email.

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Thank you all for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every week.

Thank you so much for being here,

-Ben

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