Time With Sharon…Now what do we do?

April 2008

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”

Easter is over…and Pentecost, with its fury of fire and outpouring of the Spirit’s unbridled power is still weeks away. We are passing through a strange time, called Eastertide in the early church, and it is a peculiar place to be. We aren’t quite ready to launch into the regular flow of ministry, with our new found passion and fever just yet. It seems emotionally, and metaphorically, we are left standing with our mouths gaping wide open, wondering, “What just happened here?”Over the days of Holy Week, we experienced the poignant last teachings of Jesus, his bloody and cruel sacrifice, and the miraculous resurrection of Christ to new life. But now the festivities are over; the company gone home, the ham leftovers eaten up, and the plastic eggs stored back in the attic. We are like the early Christians, who sat in their Upper Room, some still dazed from the raw experiences of that week of passion, wondering what to do, with what we know, now that we know it.

And what do we know? That Jesus was dead. Good and dead. Not flickering an eyelash, cold and blue dead. And then Christ was alive. In full living color, walking around, traveling and talking to folk, blessing, spirit-instilling, and cooking-them-fish-on-the-beach-for-breakfast kind of alive. How can this be? Because God has the power to bring new life to dead things.

In fact, God delights in bringing renewed vigor to the places in our world and in our lives that seem dead. We witness this miracle every spring when we see the green shoots boring their way through a cover of brown leaves in the flower beds. Imagine that maybe this could be your life, right now. If some part of your life is sloppy brown and dirt dead, God’s power can make the living sap start running again, producing green vitality that leads to new blooms. God can do it. God has done it. God will do it again.So what do we do with what we know, now that we know it? Believe it. Own it. Live it. Share it.

Once, during this same in-between time, I sat with a dear friend who felt like there was nothing more for which to live. I wasn’t sure how to offer him hope. I could have reminded him of his children who still needed their dad. I thought of ragging on him that his presence with us at church had been sorely missed. But none of those things seemed to touch the power of the truth that we had just lived through during Holy Week. Finally I whispered, “God makes life new. I don’t know how, but I know it, and you know it too.” I whispered it, not because I didn’t want the people around us to hear our conversation, but because it seemed like such a sacred and holy message. I didn’t trust my voice to say it with all the meaning that I meant it to have. It was too big. Perhaps my whisper would convey the utter importance of these words of hope.

Soon the Spirit’s power will bust forth, emboldening our voices to stand and shout from the rooftops. But now, while we are still saturated in a sense of shock and awe, let us share, even in a whisper, with great rounded eyes of wonder, what we have experienced to those who need to hear it. God has the power to bring new life to dead things. We know it. Tell someone.

Grace and peace,
Sharon