Piloting Faith: Dancing with heartbreak and hope...

A Word for the Day...

It's interesting that all four Gospel accounts of the ressurection are different. They are all talking about the same expereince. But each writer has a very different take on what happened. For Mark, the ressurection was the end of the story. He ends with "Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid." Later, people thought that was too abrupt an ending so someone added a few verses on at the end to say "But then they did talk and word spread and Jesus reappeared and then he assended into heaven and we should keep up the good work." Well, it was somthing like that.

The other Gospels all have their own take on what happened. It would have been easy to harmonize the stories, especially since they were written so many years after the ressurection expereince. But they are so different. I suppose that is to be expected when you experience a major event in life. We may all have a shared expereince, but we would tell the story differently.

I love that because it means we can tell the story of ressurection in our lives in ways that feel most authentic to us. We all know about ressurection - the time you lost your job and then got an even better one. Or the heartbreak of going through a divorce only to discover a strength in yourself that you didn't know you had. Or those years when you are trying to survive your teenage children, and then they grow up to be decent human beings who can pay their own bills. We know about ressurection because we also know about crucifixion. They go together.

As we enter into Good Friday and the Easter Sunday, play with telling the stories of both through the lessons from your own life. It's in the telling of our own stories that we find new life.

- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Blessing for the Week

Blessed are you who turn with passion, with strength, and with hope, for you will be filled with the God who is coming to life in you.

- Jan Richardson, Sacred Journeys: A Woman's Book of Daily Prayer