The seduction of living in the tomb is that the conventional God is there too. You can sit in your comfortable grave clothes and talk to the God who is the same yesterday, today and forever. You can sing “Our God reigns”, soak up the acoustics, and feel all holy. You can memorise verses that affirm that God as the way, the truth and the life. It’s all very nice in the tomb.
Out of the tomb however it is not nice. The God of liberation is not a pleasant puppet you can sing to and feel all holy with. God, like truth, is bigger than our experiences and projections. Even our convictions are tempered by the disturbing thought that maybe God isn’t on our side. Out of the tomb we discover that people are complex, life is complex, and God, like love, manifests itself in a variety of forms and relationships. God is out of our control.
Trapped in the grave, the churches have invented all sorts of theological nonsense. In the desire to keep God small, predictable and safe, a plethora of so-called miracles have been manufactured to suit the pre-modernism of the entombed mind. There’s a windup literal devil - he’s the bad guy. There’s a literal seven-day creation – nothing is impossible when you create your own truth. There’s a literal virgin birth - fairyland doesn’t have to follow any biological rules. Here supernatural miracles happen in the wink of the eye, without even using a wand. Even the dead literally come back to life depending on what’s on the barbeque.
When churches only talk to themselves, those who agree with them, and their marionette God, it’s not long before tomb reality becomes the only reality.
The God of the Risen Jesus however is very different. This is a God of whom we need to be afraid. This God breaks open our tombs. This God disturbs our thinking. This God allows niggly questions to visit us in the small hours of the night. This God drives prayer from our lips and peace from our soul. This God blows us into the furnace of unrest, change, and freedom. This God compels us to shred the trappings of death and break free of the grave.
This is the God we celebrate at Easter.
About Me
- Glynn Cardy
- I enjoy hearing my children laugh, and seeing my wife smile. I enjoy the aroma of a nice coffee at my favourite cafe. I enjoy the time to talk without the pressure to conclude, and to write without the pressure to conform. These are great privileges and I am blessed. I love the sea, the sand, and the surf. It has sculpted my soul. I like talking to large groups of children because their responses are never predictable or boring. Their capacity for imagination has not been checked. They are therefore capable of seeing the expanse of God without being able to give it a name. When I grow up I want to be a postie. You know, one of those people who ride a bicycle all day and post letters in your letterbox. Only I want to anonymously write the letters too and illustrate them. I want to tell you that you're special, exhort you to be kind and generous, and encourage you to enjoy the great variety of people in this world. If we get those things right everything else tends to follow. I also want to write some letters that pull your leg and make you laugh.
No comments:
Post a Comment