Who Are We To Be?

"Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."
-Matt. 24:35, Mk. 13:31, Luke 21:33

In his Easter message to the United Methodist Church, Bishop Kenneth Carter, Jr. said "Easter is the moment where who we are, what we believe and what we do becomes clear". I think that holds very true this Easter, because with the worldwide pandemic, those things are in flux more so than in the past. We are stripped of the things that we use to fill our time, and must contend with those things that are essential. Better said, must face those things that are essential. Often, the things that we use to fill our time are those that allow us to not consider things directly around us. With more people working from home, internet connections have often gone down, forcing us to have (gasp!) conversations. With congregations not being able to gather for coffee, donuts and gossip in person, services have gone online, causing us to rethink what worship actually is and should be.

So what do we do once this crisis is over? Do we go back to our lives as they were, or do we strive to a new normal? Humankind has been given a unique opportunity to reinvent itself into the people they have always had the vision to be. To become a nobler, kinder, gentler people, not hindered by the reality of the world. You know, "I'd love to be that way, or think that way, or do better things, but you can't do that in the real world," Well guess what? The real world is no longer a hindrance, and how we react now is what the new world can change into, at least for us individually.

So what is our "essential" to use as a foundation? I Corinthians 13: 8-10 gives us some help. "Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away, as for tongues, they will cease, as for knowledge, it will pass away." The verse above takes it even further. "Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."  This verse is repeated, in the same context, in 3 of the 4 gospels. We are in a time now where we can truly transform by going back to what will not pass away.

And transformation IS what Jesus is all about. He transformed from God to man to live among us. He transformed from unblemished to taking on the sins of the world. He transformed from life to death to Life Everlasting. And his transformation was not just for himself. He is just the first of all who would follow him.  Romans 6:4-5 says "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like this, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his."

So, now that we are down to essentials, who are we to be?

Fly like an Eagle

And while with silent, lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

-John Gillespie Magee, Jr., WWII Royal Canadian Air Force Pilot

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

-Isaiah 40:31

For those of you who can remember when television didn't broadcast 24/7, you may remember a sign off from the 1960's. It featured a single jet airplane, soaring through the sky, with majestic music in the background to a reading by William Conrad of the poem "High Flight". It was written by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. in a letter home to his parents in 1941, just months before a tragic mid-air collision took his life. Whenever I could stay up late enough to watch it, it always touched me somehow. It suggested that we could go beyond the cares of earth, and rise to something greater, to be something greater. The full version can be seen on YouTube. I would suggest you check it out.

But then there is an old saying "How can I soar with the eagles when I'm stuck down here with the turkeys?" (And we all know turkey's can't fly - WKRP in Cincinnati taught us that if nothing else!) It's so easy to get lost in the circumstances around us, that we forget our souls have wings that were meant to fly. The only way to counter that is to not look at, but BEYOND our circumstances. If life truly is a journey, then the only time we get stuck is when we fail to move. And we fail to move when our vision is no longer on our goal, which is Christ. We may each have a different path, because we are each individuals, but the end of each journey is still Jesus. So, I challenge you (and me) to change our focus from around us to ahead of us. From under the circumstances to beyond them. From our own hopelessness to the author of hope. Then, we can fly. Then we can put out our hand, and touch the face of God.