Resurrection Takes a Second Look

Resurrection: It Takes a Second Look

“Seeing things as they actually are usually takes time. How else are we to explain the fact that no one- no one!—noticed the resurrected Jesus at first sight? Seeing the resurrection requires a second look, another glance. It takes a while for our eyes to adjust to the light of the resurrection, and then all of life looks radically different…Seeing God’s “new thing” is about seeing an old thing in a new way through a new lens.

Such is the miracle of Gospel sight—to see what has always been there in such a radically new way that it becomes a new thing. This is always a work of grace, and we can only handle so much of it at once.”

—Kris Rocke and Joel Van Dyke in Geography of Grace, Doing Theology from Below.

Caravaggio suuer Emmaus London National Gallery

When friends ask what life must be like after the resurrection, I remind them that our only stories are about the resurrected Jesus. After the resurrection, the disciples on the road to Emmaus did not recognize him, and Mary Magdalene did not recognize him. The disciples who met Jesus on the beach were not sure who he was. Jesus came and went through closed doors. The resurrected Jesus gave fishing tips, cooked meals, and ate dinner with his friends.

The Easter season is the perfect time to read and meditate on the resurrected Jesus’ appearances on Easter Day and the next forty days (Acts 1:3-8).

We may be most familiar with several Easter Day accounts of Jesus's appearances (Mary Magdalene in John, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary in Matthew, Mary Magdalene and the Galilean women in Luke, two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke, and disciples in the upper room when Thomas is absent and then present in John).

The resurrected Jesus appears at least 12 times. This Easter Season is an excellent time to practice Ignatian meditative practices, imagining ourselves in more unfamiliar scenes.

Jesus appeared to the disciples eight days after the resurrection (John 20:24-29), with Thomas present in the upper room. He appeared to seven disciples at the Sea of Galilee, asking Peter to feed His sheep (John 21). Jesus appeared on a hillside in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-20), perhaps to over 500 people, as referenced by Paul (1 Corinthians 15:6). Jesus was later seen by his brother James (1 Corinthians 15:7). Jesus’ final appearance was the Great Commission after the disciples returned to Jerusalem and were led out to Bethany at the Mount of Olives. (Luke 24:50-52, Acts 1:9-11). Then we know that Paul also encountered Jesus a few years later on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:5, 1 Corinthians 15:8).1

The fact that people have difficulty recognizing Jesus tells us at least two things. First, the resurrection is so overwhelming that it is almost impossible initially to believe. Second, Jesus looks different in the resurrection. 

May we, in turn, learn from these stories the different resurrection life in this life and the next.

1Msgr. Charles Pope, Blog, April 9, 2012, blog.adw.org

From his Native American heritage, Bishop Steven Charleston constantly reminds us that we got through the pandemic and racial and social unrest with the help of those who love us in the resurrection in the next life. Through them, God prays, walks beside us, and nudges us to care for ourselves and others.

ivanov yav hrista mari

Joanna. joannaseibert.com   https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Easter Vigil

Easter Vigil 1

“Dear friends in Christ: On this most holy night, in which our Lord Jesus passed over from death to life, the Church invites her members, dispersed throughout the world, to gather in vigil and prayer.” —Book of Common Prayer (Church Publishing, 1979), p. 285.

Episcopal Church of the Messiah Santa Ana California

The Easter Vigil is one of the year’s most complicated and beautiful services for the church. The difficulty is that it is only once a year, so it is hard to remember all the tiny details from year to year. As a result, there is sometimes more chaos on this evening than the church would like.

But this also adds to its beauty: light and creation emerging from chaos. The service starts with lighting the Paschal candle from a fire, usually outside the church. The large lighted candle then enters the church into complete darkness.

The deacon carries the Paschal candle in as they light the congregation’s candles while singing “The Light of Christ” three times in a slightly higher pitch. The deacon next chants the beautiful Exsultet.

It is time for me to turn the Exsultet over to someone else. I have loved chanting the Exsultet for more than seventeen years. It has been a privilege. Our former deacon at St. Mark’s, Susan, sang the Exsultet for three years. I loved hearing her practice and beautifully chant it from her heart. Michael, one of our priests, chanted it the following year, and our rector, Barkley, now chants the Exsultet.

Old Testament readings about God’s history with God’s people follow the Exsultet. Next come baptisms, crying babies, and curious toddlers escaping from their parents, all still in the dark. Finally, the cacophony of the incredible noise of bells of every size announces that Christ has risen indeed.

The lights come on, and we see all the flowers of Easter surrounding the inside of the church. Then, we celebrate the first new Eucharist of the Easter season.

The service may be similar to what the spice-bearing women experienced when they came to the empty tomb on that early Easter morning. They saw one or two angels in dazzling white, telling them they were the first to know that Jesus was raised from the dead!

This is the Easter message: Jesus defeated death and rose from the dead. We will rise from the dead. We also have the promise that we will find resurrection in all the suffering and unnecessary deaths from a virus and the social and racial unrest in our world.

This year, we especially pray for peace and resurrection for the people of Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan, and the people of our state still suffering from recent tornadoes.

Joanna. joannaseibert.com   https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Good Friday

Good Friday

“The courageous women who weep …”–John 18:1-19:42.

“On Good Friday, so much focus is rightfully on Jesus’ suffering on the cross. But let’s look down below him and see the courageous women of John’s story.

In memory of them, let us pray for women who today will weep for their children, refusing to be comforted. And let us hold in prayer the women in today’s Golgothas who, in the face of horrible suffering, somehow find the strength to hold each other up.”—Eileen D. Crowley, “Sunday’s Coming” in The Christian Century (4/11/2017).

In Arkansas, starting on Easter Monday, 2017, eight executions were planned over ten days because one drug had an expiration date at the end of that month. There had been no execution for twelve years. I remember that earlier execution well because I was a deacon at our cathedral, which is close to the governor’s mansion.

Eric Nance was executed for the death of 18-year-old Julie Heath. We had an ecumenical prayer service for the person to be executed and the person he killed. I played the harp at the service, probably the African American spiritual, “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.” We then went to the governor’s mansion and sang and prayed by candlelight until after the execution.

All the men on death row had killed young women. I wonder what these girls are praying for now in eternal life and if they are lighting candles. Some stories about the men reveal that they had awful lives with a lack of love from women, like the ones who followed Jesus.

women at the cross

My prayers today are that governors all over our country will stay executions, and eventually, this state will abolish the death penalty.

My third prayer is that we will do our best to raise strong and loving women, like the ones at the cross with Jesus, so their children will know love and not violence against others, especially against women.

Remember the wrongful death of Jesus today. Also, include in your prayers the many people all over the world who are unjustifiably suffering and dying. Remember those who were ill or died because of the past epidemic. Remember those still suffering in this state from the tornadoes. Remember the families, women, and children in Ukraine, Gaza, Israel, the Middle East, and Sudan.

Chapel of Joseph of Arimathea National Cathedral

I close with a recent Good Friday poem by another loving and strong woman and dear friend, Zane Baker, in Winston-Salem.

Think of the many crosses we live

The Thrills/ and Tough Times

The Tall Trees/ Torn Trunks

The Terrifying Tempest/or Tender Tranquil

The Tiny/ the Tremendous

The unTouchable Twinkles alofT

All Tended with love.

Joanna. joannaseibert.com https://www.joannaseibert.com/