Resurrection Day/ Easter Sunday – I ran across a quote from one of my favorite modern philosophers, Pete Rollins, that I used at the end of services today after we listened to Josh talk to us about the hope that the resurrection introduced to us – a paradigm shift even more dramatic than the parting of the Red Sea when the Israelites thought all hope was gone because they couldn’t imagine a way out, more mind-expanding than manna from heaven when the same group of people that had walked through the Red Sea began to question again how God was ever going to get them out the mess that Moses had led them into. So on that first Easter morning Jesus’ followers got to experience something that still gives us hope – they were witnesses to “life after life after death”. That’s what we live for – not a set of angel wings, a harp and a home in the clouds, but a life like we see in Jesus as he walked among his followers offering peace and encouragement – in other words, the fulfillment of the kingdom. It was in that context that the following quote has power:

“Without equivocation or hesitation I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ. This is something that anyone who knows me well could tell you, and I am not afraid to say it publicly, no matter what some people may think...
I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system.
However there are moments when I affirm the resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm it when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees, when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed."
- Peter Rollins

Let’s be about the business of affirming the resurrection today and tomorrow not by just our confession of belief but by our actions and our words…