The Silence Is Not Empty II (Slice)

"I don't want the absence of sound, I want the absence of noise. Listening is worship."

--Gordon Hempton, an audio ecologist.(1)

For the Christian church, Holy Week begins a time of silence, a week of sitting in the dark with the jarring events from the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem to the march of Christ to the grave. Holy Week moves the world through the shouts of Palm Sunday to the empty space of Holy Saturday. Though the Christian story clearly and loudly ends on the note of triumph and resurrection, there is a great silence in between, a great darkness we believe is necessary to sit with.

Writing of Holy Saturday, the day most marked with this silence, theology professor Alan Lewis says of the Christian story: "Ironically, the center of the drama itself is an empty space. All the action and emotion, it seems, belong to two days only: despair and joy, dark and light, defeat and victory, the end and the beginning, evenly distributed in vivid contrast between what humanity did to Jesus on the first day and what God did for him on the third... [Yet] between the crucifying and the raising there is interposed a brief, inert void: a nonevent surely—only a time of waiting in which nothing of significance occurs and of which there is little to be said. It is rare to hear a sermon about Easter Saturday; for much of Christian history the day has found no place in liturgy and worship it could call its own."(2)

Perhaps this is because we are generally uncomfortable with silence, uncomforted by waiting. We don't understand a messiah who stands at the crossroads of an identity as a deliverer, a political hero who could fight with force for our salvation and that of a servant, a messiah who chooses intentional suffering, who chooses to walk us through darkness on the way to redemption. If Holy Week is filled with events that silence us in disbelief, Holy Saturday levels us with the silence and emptiness that is the end of God.

Yet Holy Week attempts to prepare the world precisely for this silence. For certainly, here, after the end of God on Easter Saturday, we find not only the absence of sound, the absence of noise, but the end of the world—confirming our despair and doubt, the fear that history is meaningless, that evil is in control, and our future perilous. Such silence is one in which we can only manage a redirected cry for "Hosanna," a reiterating of the lighthearted cheers of Palm Sunday, a desperate prayer for a Messiah to save us now, to deliver us from evil and emptiness.

...

This is the story Holy Week sets before the world this week. There is much to listen for in between the crucifying and the raising. There is always much silence and darkness to sit with, but it is never fully empty.

-- Jill Carattini

(1) Diane Daniel, "Listening is worship," Ode Magazine, July 2008.
(2) Alan E. Lewis, Between Cross and Resurrection: A Theology of Holy Saturday (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 1.

The Silence Is Not Empty (Slice)

Willa, as a young adult, was hospitalized and classified as schizophrenic of an undifferentiated type. She was born into a home where she was unwanted and abused. Though was a bright child, everyone took advantage of her. She grew up with no sense of boundary or healthy relationships. Tragically, even the very individuals who pledged to help her became abusive towards her. In the second year of graduate school, she finally broke down and could not finish her term.

In the hospital, Willa sat for hours rocking her doll and staring into space. The head nurses expected that she would never be able to leave the hospital.

One day, while Willa was sitting in her chair, someone came up behind her, put arms around her and said, "The silence is not empty; there is purpose for your life." She turned around, but there was no one there.

The power of that experience began to build sanity within Willa. She began to distinguish illusion from reality. Even though no one thought that she would ever leave the hospital, she was released after three weeks. Eventually, she was baptized and returned to her original calling (the same profession that she had been in graduate school for).

God is still in the silence when all else seems lost, Loder writes: "The intimacy of the Spirit runs deeper than family violence and neglect, and has immense restorative power."(1) Truly, the intimacy of God runs deeper than silence.

This is the story Holy Week sets before the world this week. There is much to listen for in between the crucifying and the raising. There is always much silence and darkness to sit with, but it is never fully empty.

-- Jill Carattini

(1) Story as told by James Loder, The Logic of the Spirit (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998), 264-265.

Acceptance (Fallen Son)

"Welcome.

I...

I... um...

It...

wasn't supposed

to be this way..."

--Tony Stark's entire eulogy for Captain America's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery

Today we find ourselves at the fifth and final stage of the Kübler-Ross model: Acceptance. In the comic book, Captain has a funeral fit for the leader of the United States. Reporters speak on the scene, "Get a glimpse of the casket drawn by a single white horse, riderless, a ceremony up until now held only for a president. But, then again, there are many who feel that he [Cap'] was even more important than any elected official." Here, heroes and civilians alike gather in order to find some sort of end, to seek resolve, to discover acceptance.

Following Stark, Sam Wilson gives a speech. He states that no matter what different names Captain America had in his time as a hero (Captain America, Cap, Winghead, Nomad, and Cap-Wolf), "It didn't matter what we called him--because it all began and ended with Steve Rogers." He speaks of Roger's strengths and inspiration. He reminds us of those whom Cap' had saved from concentration camps in WWII, he reminds us at Cap's regret for knowing he would outlive many of the people he fought beside (due to the Super Soldier Serum), and he reminds us of the partner that Cap' was (to those who had served as people with and without superpowers both in the past and the present).

In the end of his address, Wilson shares how Cap will still live through the other heroes. "Steve Rogers, that skinny blond-haired kid who grew up on the streets of New York showed us that the ideals of the American dream--the great melting pot that can bring out the best in each of us and bind us all together--actually works! And he can keep teaching us that long after he's gone. By telling stories about him to our children, to our grandchildren, Steve Rogers, Captain America, will never die. This doesn't have to be a day of sadness. We can accept it as a gift of unity and hope. The kind of day Captain America lived for."

Isn't this our relationship with Christ? Even though he had to die he lives. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). The Father continues to give us strength (Psalm 73:26) and the Holy Spirit continues to bear inspiration. Instead of solely being freed from physical confinement (like the concentration camps), we have been saved from the confinements of sin, death, and the Devil. Instead of fighting with Christ in an earthly battle, we are blessed with the armor of God to become united with him in the Spiritual War (against Satan).

Even though we could never accomplish the things that Jesus Christ has done, we are able to let his light shine through us (just as the heroes let Cap's influence radiate their lives). In the end, Jesus is even stronger than our other heroes. He is even more important than any elected official or earthly warrior. He rose! He already won the war for our souls; but, he is also free to continue in helping us fight our own battles and complete the war at the end of days. "For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet" (1 Corinthians 15:25).

Drops in the Ocean

                  "What we do
                   is but a drop
                   in the ocean.
             Yet if we did not do it,
            the ocean would be less
                 because of that
                  missing drop."

                Mother Theresa

Common Sense Resurrection

Common Sense Resurrection

Paul’s epistles are known to give off a sarcastic flare. God often works through these inspired letters to let Christians see their predicaments as they really are, ridiculous. This brings back the tone of Isaiah 40:21, “Do you not know? Do you not hear?” Some facts, to God, must seem painfully obvious while, to man, they appear incoherent.

In 1 Corinthians 15, the concept of the resurrection is explained. Paul makes it obvious that if a Christian does not believe in the resurrection then he does not truly believe the Gospel. His life is in vain. But, if a Christian does believe in the resurrection, then he knows the Gospel. His life is not in vain. Paul’s argument attempts to relay that the idea of the resurrection should, in a way, be common sense to a Christian. He explains that the very Gospel itself which unites us is founded on the fact that Christ has risen. God even gave us proof with many witnesses and people willing to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection. It follows that since Christ has been resurrected, we too may be resurrected. Even though our bodies are perishable, we now become imperishable through Christ.

To start out, Paul points out to the Corinthians that they already know the basic message of the Gospel, a message received by him to pass along to others. He reminds them that Christ died for our sins, Christ was buried, and Christ rose again in order to fulfill the Scriptures. If the Corinthians did not believe this message then all of Paul’s preaching was in vain and they surely would not be able to follow the rest of his argument.

Paul reminds his brothers that what we believe as Christ’s resurrection is based on even more than just faith alone. There was also empiric proof and eye-witness accounts showing that Christ was truly alive. He was able to relate his message with both the Corinthian’s accounts and his own.[1] A crowd of over five hundred witnesses saw Jesus Christ alive after his crucifixion. Not only did Christ appear to this group of men, but he also revealed himself to the church leader, his half-brother, James. He appeared to all of the other apostles. Finally, Christ revealed himself to Paul. Paul emphasizes the fact that Christ had appeared to him last, not first. In his eyes, he was the most unworthy to see Jesus and yet Jesus had come for him. Paul declares himself to be a still-birth due to his deeds of Christian persecution, yet Christ’s revelation to him had finally brought him to life. Yet, even in all of these pieces of evidence and accounts, Paul acknowledges that it is only due to God that we may ever know such facts. It is only by the grace of God that he might have ever known Him. And, Paul knew that whether the Corinthians had heard the Gospel from these other witnesses or from Paul himself that they had believed. If they had believed these accounts then surely they must believe in a resurrection: the Christ’s.

Now, if this one resurrection is true and if Christ truly rose from the dead, a fact that the Corinthians already claimed to believe and a fact backed by various eye-witness accounts, then it should not be too hard to understand that all man may also rise from the dead. W. Harold Mare states, “The Gospel assures them [the Corinthians] of salvation unless the supposed faith they had was actually empty and worthless.”[2] If the Corinthians assumed that there can be no resurrection of the dead, then they deny their Gospel, that Christ himself had really raised from the dead. Their beliefs, their faith, and their lives would all be in vain.  H. Alford is frank enough to say that, “With the resurrection of Jesus Christ the whole gospel stands or falls.”[3] If no man could be raised from the dead, including the Christ, then there would be no way for the Gospel to remain intact. There would be no victory over sin, death, and the Devil. Even Romans 6 would be a farce; we could not die and rise with Christ because he had never truly risen. Paul claims that the Corinthians would be misrepresenting God if they did not believe in human resurrection. They would be claiming that God raised Christ, but that cannot be true if the dead are not raised.

But, both Paul and the Corinthians already knew that Christ had been raised from the dead. It follows that man may also be raised. Ever since the Fall, man has suffered death. But, now because of the resurrection, all can enjoy life. Even though one man (Adam) had brought death by tasting sin, one man (Jesus) brought life by living again. As Mare states in a different commentary, “All who are represented in Adam—i.e., the whole human race—died. All who are in Christ—i.e., God’s redeemed people—will be made alive at the resurrection.”[4] Through Christ’s resurrection, everything had now become subject to God, even death itself. Even Paul, who was chosen as an apostle last, would be risen again in Christ.

In the midst of this argument, Paul reminds the Corinthians of their baptisms. He sarcastically states that they must have been baptized into death if they do not believe in a resurrection. If there was no resurrection then there would have been nothing else for them to have been baptized into. In reality, the Corinthians understood themselves to be baptized into a new life. Even through the water and the word they have been born again, resurrected in a way. They have not been brought again through their mother’s wombs like Nicodemus would have implied, but they have been reborn into a relationship with Christ. Paul continues with saying that every day we are to remember that we deserve death, and every day we are to remember that Christ has brought us back life. He himself had been brought back to life more than most as he had started out as a pharisaical still-born.

After Paul reminds the Corinthians of their baptism, one can almost see him trying to shake them awake shouting, “Sober up!!” The Corinthians truly knew better than to disbelieve in a resurrection. Paul hoped that his brothers could remember what they had already believed. They knew that Christ had been raised and it only makes sense that they too may be raised. They should not continue in doubting or disbelief, but instead they should refocus themselves on God and spreading his Gospel.

Still, some Corinthians remained confounded. Once would begin to stabilize themselves and go back into the world, Paul knew that some unbelievers would confront them, not understanding how it is possible for the dead to be raised. Particularly, these people would not be able to understand how their mortality could become something immortal. In a Martin Luther-like manner, Paul cries out something like, “How foolish!!” Can the Corinthians not understand that the body must first die so that it may once again come to life? Paul uses the analogy of a kernel. Does not the kernel first give way for the plant to grow? It truly does. This is the same thing that happens with our bodies. First, we live a life that is perishable so that one day we may live a life that is imperishable. We live a dishonorable life while one day we will be raised to an honorable life. We start out as a man from the dust so that one day we may be a man of heaven.

In man’s eyes, there is no way for flesh and blood to achieve immortality or the perishable to merit the imperishable. This is why, in a way, the resurrection is still a riddle. As man, we cannot wholly understand how we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. We cannot grasp how the mortal can put on the immortal. But, we must be able to trust that God is the one who makes the connection letting us grow; this is explained in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9. He takes our kernels of natural bodies and makes them whole as spiritual bodies.

Even though we know that our natural bodies only deserve the sting of death, through Christ’s victory and his resurrection death has no sting. Our natural bodies may pass away, but in a flash we will rise again. This proves that our lives are not in vain. This mortal realm is not all there is. We are not just wasting away, biding time until one day we will all eternally sleep. We can be steadfast in our faith and working for the Lord knowing that there is a reason behind all that we do. We will rise again.

Paul has tried to explain to his brothers in Corinth that there is a common sense resurrection of the dead. Through faith and eye-witness accounts they believed in the Gospel of Christ dying and rising again. It follows that we also die and rise again. Simply enough, since he can do it, it has opened the door for us to do it too. If the Corinthians did not believe in the resurrection then no man may have been resurrected, including Christ, so then their belief system and their Gospel would be in vain. Yet, because Christ had truly risen from the dead, we will also be resurrected. The Gospel remains intact and our lives truly do bear meaning.

"For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

Saint Francis of Assisi

---

[1] David K. Lowry, “1 Corinthians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, ed. John F. Walroord and Roy B. Zuck (Colorado Springs, CO: SP Publications, Inc., 1983), 544.

[2] W. Harold Mare, “1 Corinthians,” in Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary: Volume 2: New Testament, ed. Kenneth L. Barker and John R. Kohlenberger III (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), 650.

[3] H. Alford, “Quebec Chapel Sermons,” in The Sermon Bible: Acts VII.—I Corinthians XVI (New York, NY: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 362.

[4] W. Harold Mare, “1 Corinthians,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976), 285.

Kony 2012: Retaliation (Cause)

"Russel was down, naked and humiliated.

Millions took that as a cue to point and laugh."

TIME

Jason Russel, moved by the horrors of Joseph Kony started a movement that shook the world. Russel knew that Kony needed to be stopped, he is still out there. Russel's thirty minute movie swept through the internet spreading the word, popularizing Kony so that he may be known. Once he had become known, the plan was to make him stop. (For more information, including the video, click here. There has also been an updated video, here.)

With a message this big and this wide-spread, of course there would be some sort of feedback. Besides the caring and willingness to push this message forward, there was also retaliation. People responded with varied conspiracies: "this was about oil, this was about radical Christianity, this was about the U.S. electoral cycle. A lot of it was directed at Russell himself, and deeply personal, cruel, bullying" (TIME). I have even had to defend Russel's mission a couple times on Facebook (info on my debate in the comments).

This harshness of these debates became more than any single man could bear. Eventually Russel, "Hadn’t slept for nine days. Three days later he suffered what appears to have been a psychological breakdown and was found by San Diego police naked and kneeling in the street, slapping the pavement with his bare hands. At which point, the baying and blood lust only increased. Russell was down, naked and humiliated. Millions took that as a cue to point and laugh" (TIME).

Instead of treating Russel with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control; the world threw "rage, selfishness, dissension, bitterness, and envy" at him (Forgotten God p130). If Russel bent under this insurmountable pressure (more pressure than we ever hope to face in our lifetimes), imagine how much more pressure Christ must have been in as he hanged upon the cross. He could have made the wood split or the nails fall, he could have chosen not to die. But, he did choose death. He did not give into the scorn of this world, but stayed true. He chose to save us even though there was no way that we had deserved it.

We should also remember that even as we go through our own trials: "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:3-6). As we spread the message (both of Kony 2012 and the Gospel), no matter what obstacles get in our way, we can overcome them.

I hope to see you out there April 20th.
http://genesiseightseven.blogspot.com/2012/04/kony-2012-cover-night.html

Depression (Fallen Son)

Depression.

We've all felt it. We all know it's tough.

The mind aches from worry, the body becomes weak, and the person doesn't want to really do anything. Motivation is gone, emotions become overpowering, and the being is crushed.

The fourth stage of the Kübler-Ross model brings us to Depression. Marvel takes Spider-Man and rips away his mask of funny catch phrases and superhuman ability to show us who he truly is, a man. Even though most would see this hero as Marvel's biggest drama queen, I would argue that this is because he is Marvel's most human character. At his core, he's really just a guy who got bit by a spider and only fights because he feels that he would be shirking his responsibility if he chose not to. (With great power comes great responsibility Amazing Fantasy 15.) Peter Parker is the one who takes Cap's death the hardest.

After running out of the New Avengers' temporary HQ in "Anger," Spider-Man is out of sorts. He realizes how much he has failed in his life and how different it would be now without a great person like Captain America to look up to. He ends up going to the grave of his other role model, Ben Parker. Instead of being able to think of the positive, Pete falls into depression. He knows that it was his fault that Ben died and he feels powerless against the death of Captain America. Pete thinks, "They say the true legacy of a hero is based on the lives he's saved. Knowing me, my legacy will be judged by the lives I've lost." Not only is Spider-Man treated skeptically as a comic-book character, it is hard for people to appreciate him in his universe (616). He thinks of all the people that had been lost to him, the deaths that he feels he could have prevented. He remembers what happened to his parents, his Uncle Ben, his best friend Harry Osborn, the officer Captain Stacy, his once girlfriend Gwen Stacy, and now America's hero Cap'. "Even though I didn't have anything directly to do with it [Cap's death]... I know the role I played in leading up to it made everything... worse."

While lost in his thoughts and grieving over deaths of those he had loved, Pete's Spider-Sense goes off. He sees Rhino in the cemetery and attacks him thinking that if he didn't the villain would probably just go off and kill someone else. It seems like he struggles with taking out his aggression in the same way that Ms. Marvel did in "Anger."

As he's beating up on the beast Spidey thinks, "Captain America survived World War II, and about a million battles since then, and... somebody shoots him. Dead. When it can happen to Cap... who the hell am I to be doing this? If God has a sense of humor... I don't get the joke."

In the midst of battle, Spider-Man realizes (too late) that Rhino was only here to grieve the loss of his mother. He wasn't going to cause any harm or bother anyone else. Spidey wants to apologize, but he can't get the words to come out. He feels even more depressed. His body no longer wants to move and the Rhino starts slaughtering him. Pete starts going into a flash back of another time he thought he was about to die. The Hulk was beating him, trying to be left alone (just like Rhino) and Cap' was the only one willing to stand in the way and save Spidey.

Luckily, Spider-Man regains his energy and is able to survive his fight with Rhino. But, he probably wouldn't have made it without Cap's help in his fight with the Hulk. This leads Pete to say, "What are we going to do without you, Cap?"

On the way out of the cemetery, Spider-Man runs into Wolverine. This creates one of the best dialogues ever (especially from Wolverine):

Wolverine: You really think I don't know what you're going through? Me.

                  Try this. It's like somebody shot a cannonball right through your stomach, leaving a great

                  big hole.

                  Eventually, it starts to close up from the outside in...

                  ...And one day, it'll be different. The load won't feel as heavy.

                  'Course, then you'll hear a song or somebody will laugh or the wind will blow the wrong

                  way...

                  ...And the hole will tear wide open again.

...

                  Believe it or not, it heals back faster after each time.

Spider-Man: And when does it go away?

Wolverine: You already know the answer to that or else you wouldn't have been standing in that

                  cemetery tonight.

                  Wanna know why it's called "depression"? Because it is depressing...

                  A death isn't like losing a job or getting divorced.

                  You don't "Get over it."

                  You have to integrate it into your life. Learn to live with it.

                  But... Life does get better.

Spider-Man: Someday...?

Wolverine: Best you can hope fore...

Spider-Man: Someday.

Even Jesus knew depression.

He wept with Lazarus's companions in John 11:33-35. He mourned over the city of Jerusalem, knowing that it would soon fall in 70AD (Luke 19:41-44). He cried out to God, "Why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34).

God knows emotion.

He is a Jealous God, calling his people a prostitute running away from him. With such great love for us, we can only imagine what great sorrow it must be for one of us to turn away from him.

The Holy Spirit also knows sorrow.

He mourns when we neglect God and forget how we are to live. Francis Chan said, in Forgotten God, "When we are disunified, unloving, hateful, jealous, gossipy, etc., that is when we grieve the Spirit of God. And since He is the creator of emotions, I believe that the Spirit grieves more deeply than we can even understand" (p72).

It is not as if God cannot relate to us. He is even more than we ever could be. We were made in his image, imagine what it would be to feel our limited emotions on his limitless level. With his everlasting love, would it follow that he would also know everlasting sorrow? Like Wolverine, God is able to sarcastically say, "You really think I don't know what you're going through? Me."

But, even more than sorrow, recognize God's everlasting comfort and his everlasting strength. Even when we know that we fall short. Even if we don't feel guilty for the deaths of our friends (like Spider-Man), we always know that in a way we could have done much more. This sorrow, this depression, really should point us to God.

It is not as if this is the only time in our life that we need him. We need him constantly, in every breath. But, many people only learn to recognize him through tragedy. Here, instead of turning away from God, we should become more dependent on him. "Although my heart and flesh may fail, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:26. When we know that we're not enough, when we don't know what to do next or even how to move on, and when life just doesn't make sense, we realize how much we really need God.

The "Someday" that Spider-Man is hoping for is the someday with Christ. We know that he has taken our burden, our yoke, our cross and has given us a lighter load. If we can't handle what we are given now, imagine how much harder it must have been for Christ to bear the world on his shoulders. He is the one that stood in the way of sin, death, and the devil (parallel to Cap' standing in the way of the Hulk). like Cap' took the bullet for us, Christ bore our cross.

Still, we can be comforted knowing that we are now gifted with the Holy Spirit and his fruit in order to be able to make it through the toughest parts of life (including depression). Instead of sorrow, we may know joy. "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:11).

To be continued...

Make sure to check in next time

as we discuss the final stage of grief "Acceptance:"

This has been part of the Spider-Man Series