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our elected officials to consider the impact this jobs crisis is having on real people, real children and real families. A 70-something-year-old pow- erhouse, Sherry makes his younger colleagues tired just thinking about it. But, to him, this was just another day in his life as a follower of Jesus, the one who has set us all free from sin and death to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).
Living like we believe it What would it be like, I wonder, if we all believed that? What would a church that knows it has nothing to lose look like?
What risks would it take? What issues would it tackle? What would it dare to do?
The Easter story is amazing, of course. Jesus is arrested and tortured. He is crucified, dies and is buried. But on the third day he is resurrected. He throws off his burial clothes, sits up in a pitch black tomb, sees a sliver in the wall turn into a flood of breath- taking sunlight as the stone is rolled away by a flurry of angels, gets up and goes for a walk. Remarkable, right?
But what is really awe-inspiring, as far as I’m concerned, is what hap- pens after that to Jesus’ followers and friends, and to the world into which Jesus emerges—a world that will never again be the same. Peter, who just days and months before had sunk beneath the waves of his own fear and doubt, stands and speaks in the public square, risking arrest by declaring that Christ is risen, he is risen, indeed (Acts 2:14-36). Stephen, a layperson whose truth about the Messiah infuriates the reli- gious leaders in Jerusalem, so coura- geously faces death by stoning that it emboldens his fellow Christians to take the message of Christ to the ends
of the earth (Acts 7).
Paul, who fretted aloud about how people sometimes found him annoy- ing, faced down both religious and Roman authorities with such clarity and grace that even some of his cap- tors were convinced by the message he delivered (Acts 28:24). We’re all going to die some day. So are the institutions we love and care about. From dust we came and to dust we shall return—all of us and everything we have made.
But, as Paul declares, “If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him … so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:8-11).
In other words, live and love and lead those institutions you care about like death has no power, like Christ really does have the final word, like you believe it’s true. A few years ago I had the privilege of being part of a tiny downtown congregation for a short while. After decades of struggling to adapt to a changing culture, members knew they were coming to a crossroads. There were only a handful of them left, most at least 70 years old. They were tired and a little scared. They asked me to help them discern their future.
I spent about a year inviting them into prayer and holy conversation
about what God was up to in their lives, the little church they loved, their neighborhood and city. One Sunday we reflected together on the lectionary text, which included Luke 17:33: “Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it.” An elderly member—who had helped plant the congregation nearly a half century ago—risked speak- ing these Spirit-inspired words: “We can’t keep doing this. There are so many better things we could be doing with our money. We need to close this church and invest in something that will really make a difference for God.” Within a month that congrega- tion voted to close its doors and gave nearly $100,000 to support new and existing ministries that are doing good for people. It may be the holiest thing I’ve ever seen a small band of God’s people do. Easter isn’t remarkable because the Son of God was raised from the dead. He is the Son of God, after all. What is truly amazing is when we act like we believe that’s true.
What have you been longing to do for the sake of justice and mercy that you have not dared to do because you were afraid?
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