This Easter season I've been thinking about the "cloth of life"... the chinks in our armor/the holes in our cheese. Not that I am bent on a depressive series of naval-gazing, but on the hope of giving glory to God as He who is All in All. Scripture tells us we are but a mist, a tent to be folded up, passing through this life, and one Resurrection morning we will look back upon it as one waking from a dream. We travel/travail through life feeling we have not arrived yet for a reason: We. don't. belong. here.
St. Paul said, "To live is Christ, to die is gain...." The cloth of life...
We have an uncle with leukemia, an uncle with mental illness; a young friend lost to leukemia, a young friend lost to brain cancer; Christian friends divorced, Christian friends doing all they can to avoid divorce. We are not exempt from the struggle: chronic pain and depression are dragons we have personally fought... There are greater beasts in the human story. It doesn't take a long meditation on the sufferings of the world (New Orleans, Haiti, Japan, 30,000 people dying/day from preventable illnesses)... for one's faith to feel it...the fading, the torn...the cloth of life...
A song by one of my favorite artists, Bill Mallonee (who I just regrettably missed in concert!) tells it pretty well:
"You can count on your charm or revel in your wealth
Improve your appearance or hope in your health
But houses of cards tumble, and reputations fail
Marriages crumble, and interest rates sale
And there are no more heroes, and there are no rules of thumb
Criminals are pardoned 'cos there's no place to put them
Babies are torn because nobody wants them
And whales, canonized by some government program
We're blind men, sad men, dreamers with wishes.
Paralytics, lunatics and the back-street fringes
All find a place in Your home, at Your table
And You make them well 'cos You're willing and able
Still, in the darkness there's a candle you will see
And who knows when the sunrise will be?"
There is an answer in The Resurrected One. The answer is the Resurrected One. Through his rising, the cloth of life will be transfigured into the Garment of Praise. This is the miracle of all miracles and the bedrock of our Christian faith... We must believe in this Resurrection...not with our heads alone, but with our hearts.
We read an encouraging word this morning from our devotional Reflections for Ragamuffins. An excellent daily sampler of writings from Brennan Manning:
"Bizarre as it sounds, the ministry of praising God's goodness, wisdom, and love during times of pain and heartache is a beautiful expression of faith in action, a living expression of trust that "God makes all things work together for the good of those who have been called according to his decree." In his moving little book, Our Heavenly Father, Dr. Robert Frost writes, “There is nothing more precious to God than our praise during affliction. Not praise for what the devil has done, but praise for the redeeming power of our loving heavenly Father. What he does not protect us from, He will perfect us through. There is indeed a special blessing for those who do not become offended at God during adversity. Furthermore, we become a special blessing to Him!”
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalm 43:5
Love and Garments of Praise for the Resurrected One this Easter season,
Joey and Christy Rauwolf
