As I walk………..
A Laypersons Journey to Understanding
We live in an interesting era. Over the last fifty years there has been a diminishment in the role of the traditional church in the lives of everyday people. By church, I simply refer to the very hierarchal, top down, organizational structure of many of our faith traditions.
Nevertheless, despite the decline in attendance to physical churches, a casual observer cannot help to notice that interest in spiritual matters, matters of life and death, saturate contemporary culture.
Although you may not agree with me, I offer the following examples. The Twilight series of books and movies features Vampires, undead creatures with prolonged “lifetimes”. The ubiquitous movies depicting Zombies, animated corpses raised by magical means. The Harry Potter series, in which the dead go on to “live” in grand portraits whose subjects can still communicate with the living. In short, in all these cultural portrayals, the dead, do not to seem to stay dead.
As a final example, I would like to mention the new TV series, Resurrection, which debuted March 9, 2014 on ABC in the US, which, obviously, is about dead people who return to life.
The paradox here, I think, is that so many people accept the fictionalized versions and reject the faith tradition that we observe and celebrate in the Passion and the Resurrection of Jesus.
In John 11: 25-26
Jesus said to her(Martha), “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes
in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never
die. Do you believe this?”
This is our challenge, do we believe this, and if so what does it mean?
In the fictionalized examples, the “undead” seem to do all the same old things they did while previously “alive”. There seem to be no expectation of change, but a simple continuation of what was before.
Is this how we encounter the Christ?
I have always been intrigued with the post resurrection encounters of Jesus with his followers. As I understand the narratives, the individuals concerned did not immediately recognize Jesus.
The resurrection experience seems to have had a transformative effect and what is the nature of this new reality?
In the weeks to come, as we follow the post resurrection narrative, perhaps we can consider the differences between fiction and faith.
Un Recipiente Vacio
