Liv's Easter Journey

During our Easter journey we have been exploring how we might breathe new life into the liturgical saying of Easter Sunday "Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!"
Some of the sessions have involved looking at the meanings in Mark, Luke and John's crucifixion accounts.
In those sessions we have tried to encapsulate the story succinctly and even replace "Christ is risen" with a short slogan that reflects some of these meanings
(it has been hard)

here are some of mine (taken from all three accounts)

death done God's way is victory
You can't keep an innocent man down
Jesus: just ask
Man's doom can not defeat God's hope
put all your eggs in God's basket
all things have come to pass



For me this Easter it turns out that the account by Luke has had a big impact and stayed with me these last 10 days. It is a doom laden account -with the wailing women (the greek chorus) and Jesus' prediction of a terrible future for Jerusalem as well as darkness when he dies. This fits my mood of these last months. (I have nothing to complain about but feel hemmed in by such bad news within our own country and round the world -both natural and human.) Within this setting Jesus acts as a confident hope filled man. It has been stark and shocking to me this Easter. He confidently offers paradise to the one dying next to him and his last act is to place all that he is into God's hands. He remains full of trust to the last. To the one next to him who also dares to trust he grants everything.

This last week when i have felt low or divided about how i want to live i have muttered to myself "Into your hands i commit my spirit". For me it is an act of throwing myself forward into a greater god-shaped future. Its about putting all my eggs into God's basket and choosing God's way as my way in all circumstances and God's being as the home of my spirit (my very self) at all times. A few years ago i realised that something had changed for me in my relationship with God, that i could sense a good God despite of or independent of circumstances. My trust of God was getting unhooked from how i was treated by life. This is a basic article of faith...blessed is the name of the Lord -he gives and takes away...Job chapter 1. But i am slow to learn it, and slower to live it. The idea that God is good despite there being lots of data in the world that some say proves that God is either wicked or non-existant is a foundation for living faith. However for me i can sense that only in these last years has it moved from my head to also inhabit my heart and i "know" it in a different way. Therefore the path to "more" with God continues to present itself as the best one for me to walk fully and deeply and it feels increasingly unsustainable to "hedge my bets" as well as unappealing.

In Luke Jesus does not waver and knows that even in this extreme situation God is his sure hope. For me to say this Easter "Christ is risen" is to own something like "all my bets are on Jesus" .

In committing my spirit to God i am of course committing my feet to walk his paths, my mind to his thoughts, my heart to his heart and so on. In daily life for me this means to keep finding practices and habits that make my heart soft and compassionate (i tend to respond to the many mundane tasks in my life by going harder and becoming harder), it is to keep forgiving and making space in my heart for those i am in long term relationships with (I am so much better at making new friends than keeping old ones close), it is to have a commitment to doing justice (I prefer to get away with whatever i can rather than acknowledge that in life i have already been given and taken so much). It is to make a place in my heart for a quiet and confident hope for the world alongside the muted grief and pain from the newspaper headlines. For me to say this Easter "Christ is risen" is to own something like " though doomed by the world, your ways offer me life"

What will it mean to you when you say "Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!" this Sunday.

Easter week at Solace

Easter holidays have started here in Victoria, and Solace is celebrating running our first seasons of Tuesday Stuff and Sunday Stuff at our new venue in Alphington. Easter week is fast approaching and we're anticipating a fantastic time. Details on gatherings are given below, but first a comment on the meaning of Easter.

Easter is the time for celebrating and reflecting on Christianities central event: the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many Christians greet each other on Easter Sunday with the words 'Christ is risen', and replying 'He is risen indeed'. At Solace we are exploring together what it means to affirm 'Christ is risen'. There have been many attempts at explaining the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus over the course of the church's history. Many of those attempts have gone beyond the gospel accounts, some using the epistles plausibly, some using other parts of the bible with less credibility. At Solace we are encouraging each individual to reflect on the meaning of 'Christ is risen' for themselves. In our conversations about the meaning of 'Christ is risen' we come to a meaning that we as a dispersed community hold as truth.

One theme that has already emerged is our attraction to the opportunity to be transformed personally: by love, by grace and - mysteriously - by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We've considered contrasting ideas about Easter from Marcus Borg and from Keith Green. Really different men, different ways of understanding bible and yet both are excited (in their own way) about the opportunity for positive and loving transformation.

We hope that you also will reflect on what 'Christ is risen' means in the coming weeks and find your own excitement in this age-old phrase.

Easter Week at Solace
April 17 10am Palm Sunday
April 22 2pm-3pm Good Friday
April 24 10am Easter Sunday
See Solace Lent and Easter events 2011 for more details and locations.