Sunday Musings – November 10, 2019
Let’s dance
It has been another week of opportunities to fall into an abyss of hopelessness for the human race. There is no lack of examples of how cruelly us humans can treat each other and mother nature. Abuse of each other in the forms of wars, hoarding more than we need while others do without, ignoring infrastructure until there is seeming no way we can find the resources to repair and rebuild, and excusing angry insults as if it were acceptable political dialogue. It is tempting to either ignore these dysfunctional and self-defeating ways of living together or to sink into them and wait for the self-destruction to be complete.
It has also, however, been another week of the hope of resurrection. A friend of mine messaged me this morning saying she had to preach on the subject of resurrection or, in Christian terms, The Resurrection. When Christians speak of resurrection they are invariably talking about the story of the empty tomb; the story of Jesus appearing after his death to promise He was going to prepare a place where one could visit with him eternally. Christians profess to believe in a literal resurrection from the dead; of Jesus rising from the tomb. Some would suggest that of course no energy can either be created or destroyed; that we all leave energy which will live on in other forms.
When I think of resurrection I think of the example of all those who rise from the ashes of oppression with the courage to not only live but thrive. I think of Bigger Thomas saying in the novel Native Son when the police persons are threatening him saying to them, “You can’t do nothin but kill me and that ain’t nothin.” I think of Martin Luther King Jr. saying “I have a dream”. I think of Sister Prejean of standing with “Dead Men Walking”. I think of a local Circuit Court Judge, David Sims, saying of course we need to decriminalize (this is not legalization) all drugs and quit treating drug addiction as a criminal problem; we need to treat addiction as the public health problem that it is. He was speaking of a new program, The Family Treatment Court.
When I think of resurrection I think of all those who find the courage to rise from the depth of the despair of addiction and rise to a new life which often become the light for others to follow.
When I think of resurrection I think of the combat veteran who lives with the terrible grief and often guilt and go on to become leaders in finding a more peaceful way to live.
Resurrection is a living, breathing demonstration of hope; a demonstration that no amount of abuse, of oppression, of being told lies can stop us from having the courage to love and take care of each other; to speak our dance of joy; to speak our dance of grief but to refuse to drown.
The abused person who goes on to create shelters; the addicted person who becomes a sponsor or a counselor; the persons who are shot in a church or a temple who declare “We will forgive. We will not respond to hate with hate.” These are the reality of resurrection.
Let’s dance.
Written November 10, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
Let’s dance
It has been another week of opportunities to fall into an abyss of hopelessness for the human race. There is no lack of examples of how cruelly us humans can treat each other and mother nature. Abuse of each other in the forms of wars, hoarding more than we need while others do without, ignoring infrastructure until there is seeming no way we can find the resources to repair and rebuild, and excusing angry insults as if it were acceptable political dialogue. It is tempting to either ignore these dysfunctional and self-defeating ways of living together or to sink into them and wait for the self-destruction to be complete.
It has also, however, been another week of the hope of resurrection. A friend of mine messaged me this morning saying she had to preach on the subject of resurrection or, in Christian terms, The Resurrection. When Christians speak of resurrection they are invariably talking about the story of the empty tomb; the story of Jesus appearing after his death to promise He was going to prepare a place where one could visit with him eternally. Christians profess to believe in a literal resurrection from the dead; of Jesus rising from the tomb. Some would suggest that of course no energy can either be created or destroyed; that we all leave energy which will live on in other forms.
When I think of resurrection I think of the example of all those who rise from the ashes of oppression with the courage to not only live but thrive. I think of Bigger Thomas saying in the novel Native Son when the police persons are threatening him saying to them, “You can’t do nothin but kill me and that ain’t nothin.” I think of Martin Luther King Jr. saying “I have a dream”. I think of Sister Prejean of standing with “Dead Men Walking”. I think of a local Circuit Court Judge, David Sims, saying of course we need to decriminalize (this is not legalization) all drugs and quit treating drug addiction as a criminal problem; we need to treat addiction as the public health problem that it is. He was speaking of a new program, The Family Treatment Court.
When I think of resurrection I think of all those who find the courage to rise from the depth of the despair of addiction and rise to a new life which often become the light for others to follow.
When I think of resurrection I think of the combat veteran who lives with the terrible grief and often guilt and go on to become leaders in finding a more peaceful way to live.
Resurrection is a living, breathing demonstration of hope; a demonstration that no amount of abuse, of oppression, of being told lies can stop us from having the courage to love and take care of each other; to speak our dance of joy; to speak our dance of grief but to refuse to drown.
The abused person who goes on to create shelters; the addicted person who becomes a sponsor or a counselor; the persons who are shot in a church or a temple who declare “We will forgive. We will not respond to hate with hate.” These are the reality of resurrection.
Let’s dance.
Written November 10, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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