Resurrection & Life

I have been reading a wonderful In Memoriam about Peter Steele, a Catholic priest, written by his close friend, Raimond Gaita, an agnostic (atheist?) philosopher. Steele was a poet, essayist and teacher, embedded in his vocation of priesthood; his poetry captures the heart of faith – the doubt and wonder and hope caught up as disciples of Jesus.

At one point in the piece, Gaita writes with a sense of mystery about Steele’s belief in the resurrection, confident that this was not about him trying to “diminish the fear of death”, but about his firm belief in life and God’s word spoken into that life.

The resurrection’s affirmation is about the hope of life and not our fear of death. We will all face death, as Peter Steele knew well and has now experienced for himself. Resurrection is about a hope which calls us to believe that God holds something more – and it is not simply about a life after death.

It is also about life here.

Resurrection means that I will not accept the patterns of death so often evoked in our society – that revenge equals justice, that violence is acceptable, that “there is nothing we can do” about our environment, about poverty, about injustice. The Resurrection of Christ is about hope in this life and for this life, and is not neatly circumscribed to a life after death.

The hope we hold for a life entirely with Christ commences here, and is articulated in the way we speak and act for those in need, those who are pushed aside, those who live broken and disempowered lives.

If good worship empowers our praise, it must also enable our service and our witness. If good preaching informs our discipleship, it must inform it for every day – perhaps least of all for worship.

What will the resurrection enable in our family? What will it mean for our disappointments? What will the resurrection offer us as we face grief or injustice? When we call friends, or the church, or politicians to account, it is because we believe in the crucified and risen Christ – that death and suffering are NOT the last words spoken. We are a people of hope in Christ entirely.

Thomas doubts because resurrection seems impossible – our hope begins for precisely that same reason. God has done what is not possible to offer life where there is none and hope where all hope seems extinguished.
Alleluia!