Easter

Growing up evangelical, I heard lots of people say "What is this world coming to? Please, Lord, come back soon." It always seemed so odd to me and I didn't really know why until I started reflecting recently.

As a child, everyone in my faith community focused on Heaven and how to get there. Getting there had nothing to do with how you treated people or how much you loved anyone other than yourself. God was an omniscient authoritarian and I also heard quite often "The Lord giveth and The Lord taketh away." I'm pretty sure that's a made up thing and doesn't actually appear in the Bible, which is kind of ironic when you think about it because the evangelicals take the Bible literally and yet, they quote verses that don't exist.

My very favorite uncle has struggled with demons as long as I've known him and even before I came along. His demons looked like drugs when he was much younger, but the effects have haunted him his whole life. The demon that has gripped him for as long as I've been alive is alcohol. Alcohol has become his personality. Awhile back he was sober and sick; so, so sick. Now, he's courting Alcohol again and he's the uncle I remember as a kid. But he has always told me that he doesn't care if I'm right or wrong, he is always on MY side. And that has been 100% true, always.

I think of him as God with skin on in my life. I think of Jesus and God as saying those exact words to me: "I don't care if you're right or wrong, I am always on your side." Doesn't he say that to all of us? If you're in doubt, let me remind you why we celebrate Easter.

Jesus, the only perfect human being to ever live, was a religious revolutionary of his time. People loved him because they weren't excluded from faith anymore. People hated him because they were no longer the religious elite.

 He came here knowing that one day the hate would win. He came here knowing that one day one of his closest friends would betray him. Came here knowing that one day, he would hang on a cross with nails in his hands and feet. He would hang with criminals, He would be taunted by the thief on his left, He would watch his mama cry at His feet.He came here knowing that one day the world would be full of people who never deserved His sacrifice. That we would kill one another with RPG's or that girls would be terrorized into staying home from school. One day we would make our faith an exclusive club for the religious elite of our time and use his name to elevate ourselves. One day children would take their own lives rather than face one more day of torture and pain at school. One day we would stand on sidewalks and condemn other people with huge signs written in red ink, for choices they've made or for loving the wrong person. He came here knowing that one day we would ignore the least of us, we would make our worship a song on one day of the week and nothing more.

And why would he agree to that?
 Because He doesn't care if we're right or wrong, He is always on our side.
He only asked us to do one thing in exchange for that monumental sacrifice-He asked us to be kind, love Him and love each other.
And even when we don't love Him or love each other, He loves us anyway.
Always.

This brings me to the point I was trying to make in the beginning. When we say to God "What is this world coming to? Please, Lord, come back soon and take us home" we spit in the face of the things He has done for us. It is the cry of a spoiled, exclusionary people. We say to Him "I don't care that you made the Heavens and the Earth, that you spoke the grass, sky, trees, clouds, rain and snow into being. I don't care that you made birds that sing on lovely spring mornings or that you gave us flowers that bloom in vibrant colors when the weather turns warm. I don't care that you sent us a son to be the Savior of the world or that He agreed to die an agonizing death so that we may always know how much you love us. I don't care that three days later, He arose and sent a woman out to the community to tell them He IS Risen. None of that matters because this place might as well be the pits of Hell. All I see when I look around is horrendous crimes, atrocities and hate."

And I imagine Him saying "Look a little harder. There are people working to change all that. There are people quietly loving. There are people silently joyful. Follow them. I'll meet you there."

Isn't that just the best news?
We often don't make it seem like it's the best news ever because we make it seem like following Jesus comes with lots of rules. But it really doesn't. It just comes with one: Say, be, do Love.