No vow of silence here

Computer difficulties, services for Holy Week and Easter, and the like have prevented my writing for the past few days - not that this is any loss. :) Still, the resurrection is a topic unique in that one could write volumes on the subject and remain fully aware that one is saying 'nothing.' No belief is more central to the Christian faith - nor teaches us better the limitations of our knowledge and experience. We can express our faith in doxology, but forget the rational explanations.

My literary side is tempted to picture what the disciples encountered in the Risen Lord, but perhaps I am too weary to pursue this at the moment (...or realise such speculations can lead only to sheer invention.) Yet one interesting example of what the early believers would grasp is presented in the first chapter of the First Epistle of Peter. In verses 3-5 alone, there is talk of new birth, living hope, salvation, unfading inheritance, through the Father's raising Jesus from the dead.

One flaw, very common in theological writings for many centuries, was that the emphasis was on Jesus's Incarnation (or, more usually, his crucifixion) as saving us from punishment. This too often translated into: we now are saved from hell - the only hope we should have is seeing God in heaven - so take the punishment here!

There is no explanation for the suffering and evil of this life. Yet many of us, myself included, have had the experience of seeing God as remote. Peter, in the epistle reference, reminds us of the continuous action of Creation - and of the Jewish emphasis on God's being active in creation, constantly, in covenant faithfulness. I am not about to analyse how - but I do know that, in much Christian thought, there was an error of thinking that 'the kingdom' was for after we die, and that the life here was merely an endurance test. (It certainly feels that way sometimes...) :) Give me a shouting Abraham or angry psalmist any day, over the tight-lipped "God's will be done... and I'd damn well better keep saying that before he takes the cane to me" attitude I saw so often.