4th week of Easter
For our Easter reflections, Call To Action has asked a variety of people of the LBGTQ continuum to write about how they experience the Risen Christ in their lives. How do you experience the Risen Christ in yours?
It has been a few days since more than one billion people celebrated the mystery of Christianity, the Resurrection. Many do this out of their faith and tradition. Many others are part of the “only Christmas and Easter” crowd. (And yet we have fifty days to feast and celebrate, not just one!) Why do people do gather? It is not certain and why people observe this holiday can be as mysterious as how the resurrection exactly happened. Nevertheless, Christians everywhere celebrate the resurrection not as a means to say that Christianity has worth in our 21st century, but that the Risen Christ is alive and encourages the experience of the Easter dream of love and community to become real.
In my short time as a lay ecclesial minister, and as a young male adult for that matter, I have participated in the paschal mystery of dying and rising. I would like to offer two points of how I have experienced the Risen Christ. Hopefully it will serve as a invitation for all to consider the same.
My close friends describe me as a social butterfly. Whether at a conference or Sunday liturgy, I usually say hello and ask the names of those I don’t know. I am notorious for saying hello and good morning/evening to random strangers on the street. I experience the risen Christ in taking the risk of saying hello, and maybe even making a friend. St. Gregory of Nyssa once said, “the one thing truly worthwhile is becoming God’s friend.”
In the Emmaus story, I wonder what Jesus was thinking of when he took the risk of saying hello and checking in with the disciples. I wonder what the disciple and Cleopas thought of when a stranger said hello in their grief. I wonder what it would be like to be present to their amazement that this stranger did not know what “things took place in Jerusalem.” Unfamiliarity can lead to experiences of resurrection.
One Sunday at the church I minister at, I noticed someone unfamiliar sitting in a chair that is usually occupied by the same person every week. Some “drama” was beginning and to make sure the stranger did not feel embarrassed, I said hello and welcomed her and introduced myself and her to some of her neighbors. At the end of the liturgy, she told me that she is from out-of-town visiting a friend at a local hospital. She told me she did hear some people complain around her. Nevertheless, she thanked me for going out of my way to make her feel welcome. I haven’t seen her since, but it is a small example of making sure the Risen Christ be experienced.
Taking the risk to say, “hello” to someone new can be the incentive to offer new life and to encourage “burning hearts” of affirmation and acceptance. What would happen if we stop saying we are hospitable, and began to live out hospitality? We are often neglecting those who are new, who are strangers, and more often than not catering to ourselves because it is safe and comfortable. Who is showing up as the Risen Christ to you?
The early church knew the importance of community but it came with immense fear. Their leader was seized and killed like a common criminal. They had placed their hope and faith in Jesus. After Jesus died, they were behind locked doors, filled with anxiety, wondering who would jump ship, and yet they gathered. Many would have been saying to themselves, sperabumus, “we had hoped…”. How many times do we say or think that…we had hoped or if only. Sometimes I find myself saying:
if only our church was less legalistic.
I had hoped that our church was (fill in the blank).
I had hope that change was going to happen.
Our hopes and dreams are what gives us energy to let the Risen Christ be seen and experienced in the lives of those we serve and journey with. I believe that it is important to remember that the Risen Christ is in community. Everyone is included to share that, no matter where one is in the spectrum. We all have a purpose to bring the Risen Christ alive to the world. In this year of mercy, we are encouraged to gather together, to proclaim the precious gift of peace, and challenge one another so that we can truly be of “one heart and mind” (Acts 4:32).
One of the communities I have the privilege of worshipping with says it best, “glorifying the stranger.” Allow God to pursue and cling onto you (think of the disciples running to the tomb and Mary Magdalene) so that you can share an authentic connection with others.
My prayer for you is this: that you may be encouraged to build the body of Christ , one hello at a time. Happy Easter!
