Living in the InBetween

The comment I most appreciate after yesterday's sermon was "the whole town should have heard that one".

The sermons was about the problem of moving beyond the fear into the resurrection, using Mark 16:1-8 as the launching point. As a part of it I named the uncertainty/anxiety/worry of the time between Friday and Sunday. I named that many of us live in that place much of the time. Then I named the fact that this town has been living in that place for 25 years, ever since the mines closed. They have never been able to move into resurrection, always wanting to go back to where they were. But of course resurrection does not mean resuscitation; resurrection is new life, not a return to the old.

I also named that you have to move through the fear and anxiety to get to the new life that lies beyond. When we try to avoid that uncomfortable place we never get on the road to the new life. You have to go through Friday to get to Sunday (one person commented that they had never heard it expressed that way before). My hope is that if we in town can start naming these realities then maybe there will be a way that we can see the hope for something new. In that light I also named that resurrection doesn't always happen (maybe even rarely happens) the way we want/expect it to. It comes as a surprise.

Afterward a member of the congregation who is also on town council made the comment I quoted above. I think I got something right. Well, the Spirit got something right in my voice anyway.