Pondering with Pastor Peter

 

1 John 3:1-2

 

“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are...Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.”

 

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

 

It is true! Christ is risen! But now what? All the Easter candy has been eaten. The ham is gone, and the bone is in the dutch oven for split pea soup. Is it back to life as usual?

 

The author of 1 John writes to a community of Jesus followers wrestling with many questions regarding life after the resurrection. Was Jesus of Nazareth really fully human and fully divine, or was Jesus fully divine and only appeared as human? These are only a couple of the questions that this group of Jesus followers wrestled with.

 

Thankfully, our Christian faith leaves room for questions. Commonly, we ask questions about life and death, baptism and hell. But what if we asked questions about God that weren't directly related to life and death? What if we asked questions about God that were about everyday life?

 

I think a valid question we could ask is, “If you’re a God that has conquered death, then how do you expect us to live in a world that doesn’t have the power to fill all the hungry, house all the homeless, or cure all the sick?” Listening and learning from you, I can see that you are a congregation who have asked this question; and have answered it and keep answering it.

 

That is, you keep showing up month after month to feed the hungry at the Yellow Lake Food Distribution; every Sunday morning, you keep welcoming each and every one of us who are new, who have been gone for a while, or have different needs; you keep showing up in God’s ear through prayer seeking answers and healing for all of those we know and don’t know.

 

If our church has answered the question and responded, what then is yet to be revealed when it says in 1 John, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not  yet been revealed?”

 

I truly believe that what God has yet to reveal to us is our capacity for even greater depths of love and grace through even more radical welcome, full inclusion, and limitless generosity. This is when we will be even more like him, and when we will see him as he is.

 

Easter Blessings,

Pastor Peter