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Lenten Devotional - 2022
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Easter Sunday, Empty Tomb, Full Hearts
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!
The empty tomb on Easter morning is such a welcome and familiar story to celebrate!
I was surprised and moved, as I have often been throughout this devotional, by Wiltschek’s words. “What do we do when Jesus isn’t lying neatly where we expect him?”
In my past, I have been a part of churches which thought they had all the answers. Everything we needed to believe was concrete and explainable. All the loose ends were tied up in neat little black-and-white labeled packages. Right or Wrong, but not Sometimes. Yes or No, but not Maybe. Us or Them, but not Everyone. It was very clear and very comfortable, as long as we stayed inside the good boxes with the lids tightly shut. Jesus was always right where I expected him to be, inside those boxes (or maybe sitting on top…
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Forever and Ever
6 A voice says, “Cry out!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All people are grass,
their constancy is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades,
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Good Friday, Rejected
I have always found Good Friday to be a difficult day to accept. Every year, I feel sad, and I never feel the “good” in it. For me, this day is the dark cloud that shadows the coming wonder of Easter.
A friend told me once that she had read that Jesus loves us so much that if he had needed to, he would have taken the hammer and nailed himself to the cross to be our salvation. I know my friend wanted me to feel better about Jesus’s sacrifice. I didn’t. I just added guilt to my sadness.
Yes, I know the implications of the sacrificial lamb and that without the crucifixion, we don’t have the celebration of the resurrection. To be brutally honest, though, I think it would have been great to have a whole lifetime of teachings from Jesus Christ. Let him create quite a stir w…
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Christina Bucher
Apr 22
Ellen, I appreciate your honest reflection on Good Friday. The Isaiah text and Walt's reflection make me think of the many people who "endure a life of adversity and pain" even though they don't deserve that pain and adversity. If we believe in the incarnation, we believe that God knows the pain of those who suffer. God is with us when we suffer.
In your friend's comment I hear the theology of "vicarious atonement" or "substitutionary atonement" -- that Jesus volunteered to die "for our sins" in our place. That theology is held by many Christians, but not all. If we take an Anabaptist perspective that affirms God's nonviolent nature and Jesus' message of nonviolence, we cannot also hold that Jesus' death had to happen in order to bring about our salvation. My view is that Jesus died because the powers of the world lined up against him, saw him as a threat, and made him an example to others. I think the resurrection says that the truth of Jesus' message and identity did not die when he was crucified.
Kate Eisenbise Crell, who teaches at Manchester University and whose parents are Jeff and Becky Eisenbise in our congregation, has written on this in her book "Cooperative Salvation: A Brethren View of Atonement." Here is one quotation from Kate's book: "Jesus' suffering and death were not salvific, but the actions that led to that suffering were and are salvific." Another book to add to your reading list, Ellen!
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This morning I attended a book club meeting about The Book of Joy, by the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Throughout the book, the authors mention the benefits of meditation, prayer, and quiet time. There are even suggested practices for those activities detailed in a final section.
At the end of today's entry, Walt Wiltschek recommends spending some minutes in quiet reflection and prayer.
I'm feeling as if God is trying to get my attention on this topic. Is this suggestion "His word"?