[Oe List ...] Easter Reflections

Sun Apr 16 09:24:26 PDT 2017

Thank you for the reflections and the reminiscences.  I must admit I am wrestling some this week and still at Easter morn.  We get netflix dvds sent to us and last night, as we paused from getting ready for the potluck we are hosting, we watched the dvd we got in the mail.  Martin Scorceses SILENCE, about Jesuit priests on mission in Japan in the 1600's.  Lots of persecutions, apostasy as well.

All this for the metaphor of death and rebirth?  Hmmmm.  I read over the christ lecture transcribed in Bending History as well as the bits of the gospels.  Deepened the wrestling.  All complicated by a 10 year old grandson who has decided to be baptized today.  Have to stop here and go hide easter eggs . . .

Jim Wiegel
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> On Apr 15, 2017, at 19:52, Mary Kurian DSouza via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
> 
> Nancy
> What a lovely window of remembrance to look through
> 
> Thank you for sharing. 
> Mary
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On 16-Apr-2017, at 6:36 AM, Nancy Trask via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>> 
>> I vividly remember Easter mornings in the OKC RH with Bill & Marianna Bailey.  First of all, Bill Bailey's resonating wake-up accompanied by the gong.  Barb Garrison & I played the Hallelujah Chorus on the baby grand.  Breakfast included a huge slab of salmon.  Oh my goodness -- If life had caused you to need some patching up, the best prescription would be 4 years in the OKC RH with Bill & Marianna.  Thank you for those experiences, Marianna!
>> All the best,
>> Nancy Trask
>>  
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Marianna Bailey via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
>> To: Frank Knutson <f.knutson at earthlink.net>, Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
>> Sent: Sat, 15 Apr 2017 19:37:37 -0400 (EDT)
>> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Easter Reflections
>> 
>> I have been reminiscing...
>> Does anyone remember Easter Sunday in the Religious House? A very special day for the "wake up" ritual.
>> Marianna
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On Apr 15, 2017, at 4:00 PM, Frank Knutson via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>> 
>> Thank’s John, for the reminder.
>> 
>> “And once the storm is over you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about”
>> ~Haruki Murakami
>> <VIKING copy.jpeg>❤ Frank       
>> On Apr 15, 2017, at 10:19 AM, John Epps via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net> wrote:
>> Coming to terms with the meaning
>> of the Easter story for us is difficult since times and world-views have
>> changed. We find it difficult even to grasp what it meant for those who first
>> told it, much less for us. Yet we are compelled to try by Paul’s admonition,
>> “If Christ is not raised, then our faith is in vain.”  (I Cor. 15:14)
>> 
>> One factor in the story must be
>> recognized: this is a tale of a bodily resurrection, not a “spiritual” one. The
>> risen one takes pains to force people to touch his wounds and so dispel the
>> notion of an ectoplasmic appearance. Whatever the implications, they are
>> physical, this worldly. The second factor is that stories of dying and rising
>> gods (or superheroes) were widespread throughout the Ancient Near East and
>> ancient Greece.
>> 
>> So what unique implications can
>> we draw from the story that are important today? Another way to ask it is
>> “Where today do we experience death and resurrection?”
>> 
>> Both occur at the individual, natural,
>> and corporate levels. A word about each: Lately I have “died” when the classes
>> I have taught for 15 years were cancelled; I was “raised” when the University
>> called on me for 3 new classes. The slow and painful death of a dear aunt was
>> followed by a celebration honoring her life that brought back the wonder of her
>> artistry and love. These may seem trivial examples but dramatize the dynamics
>> in the story: Death/Resurrection happens to us all.
>> 
>> In nature, “Resurrection” has
>> long been a metaphor for the return of plant life in the Spring, at least in
>> the Northern hemisphere. And certainly, the emergence of leaves on barren
>> trees, of green in brown fields, and flowers from “dead” plants seem quite
>> miraculous.
>> 
>> At the corporate level, the death
>> and dying dynamic seems much more obvious that does resurrection. Many of our
>> hopes and dreams died with the November election. The horrors and complexity of
>> the Middle East conflicts and the appearance of global warming both represent a
>> death to life as we have known it. What resurrection will look like remains to
>> be seen.
>> 
>> Numerous efforts taken for
>> environmental protection certainly mark an awakening to the need for change,
>> but are faint heralds of a resurrected life. Numerous conferences aimed at
>> achieving some sort of resolution of Middle East conflicts so far remain
>> fruitless. As the story goes, it’s God who does the raising, not us. And when
>> it occurs, it’s far beyond our expectations.  As I have said elsewhere, “Humankind has unimaginable
>> capacities to screw things up; yet Mystery generates unaccountable wonders out
>> of our messes.” (Theology of Surprise,
>> p. 39) Our current situation brings to
>> mind a sermon that we heard in the Philippines during the last days of Marcos.
>> It was entitled “It feels like Friday, but Sunday is A-Coming!”
>> 
>> Whether we’re enmeshed in the
>> death or the resurrection part of the dynamic, both are operative. That’s what
>> Easter celebrates.
>> 
>> 
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