Dear Grace Van Family,
I wanted to pass on an Eastertide reflection. On Monday I came down to Seattle to see my dad for the first time in over two months. Dad has been stable, but also on hospice care for the last three months. It was so good to see him Monday night. Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) as I spent time with dad, he began doing what I would call a "sewing motion" with his hands, something I had never seen him do before. Dad has battled the ravages of Lewy Body Dementia for over six years now and while he recognizes me, he also is not always particularly coherent and also hallucinates often. Yet as I sat with him in a quiet moment, he began doing what looked to me to be an extremely well-skilled and technical "sewing motion." I imagine Tony Lee playing in a beautiful full orchestra (pre-Covid of course) and the conductor moving his hands skillfully like art in motion. Well, the only thing that was missing with dad's motions in the air was the beautiful music! I thought for a moment, mostly fascinated by the world dad was in, . . . but then it dawned on me that dad was once upon a time an extremely skilled surgeon! I thought dad is probably moving his hands with the utmost skill, in a way that most of us who are not trained in this fashion and who had not been in surgical practice for over forty years would not know how to do! And then I thought about the New Heavens and New Earth where the music and clarity of mind and strength of body will be brought into the New World Christ has brought in His resurrection, of which dad as a child of God in Christ will be a part of! and I ached for that New World and its King to come quickly.
I left dad's care home and then decided to take a visit to mom's graveside. I knew the headstone was being constructed, but wasn't sure it had been installed. . . . It had. And I sat down on the grass and wept. I thought of last year purchasing the plot with mom's approval, taking a video of the pathway how visitors can get to it, . . . its proximity to her parents graves . . . bringing the video home and showing her. Later I would take mom to visit the purchased plot, and she would joke with me as I went on and on about how beautiful the view was from her spot, that she would only be able to appreciate the view if she sat up from her grave. I then helped her along to see her parents' gravesites, though very weakened at that point by her cancer, mom insisted on standing in honour of her Beloved parents' memory. She stood there, oxygen tank and all, and wept and wept, knowing that she would soon be joining her Beloved parents in death. I hurt so deeply and was so thankful for her memory, . . . at the same time. And I wept thinking of all those sacred moments I had with mom and one I was having without her. And then I wept some more.
Today, with some of you, I sat in Davi Rabelo's final Regent College presentation who shared parts of his paper looking at the woodcut art of J. Borges and showing us (over 100 people present on Zoom!) his own artwork, a series of linocuts, entitled "Under the Sun" and while it was such a beautiful presentation for all present, for me, it was an encounter with the Living God, . . . taking in themes of light and darkness and the hope of a New Creation through the restorative work of the Cross and Resurrection of Our Lord. I found myself for most of the presentation needing to turn off my camera, because I could barely fight back the tears knowing the hope of the resurrected Christ through Davi's visually-stunning art. My tears of deep sorrow were co-mingled with hopefulness, joy and wonder. I thought by Davi's gift, I was able to take up some of N.T. Wright's challenge in his book Surprised by Hope:
"But we should be taking steps to celebrate Easter (during the Eastertide season) in creative new ways: in art, literature, children’s games, poetry, music, dance, festivals, bells, special concerts, anything that comes to mind. This is our greatest festival. . . . Take Easter away, and you don’t have a New Testament; you don’t have a Christianity; as Paul says, you are still in your sins. . . . if you are to flourish as a Christian and as a truly human being, then Easter should mean planting, watering and training up things in your life (personal and corporate) that ought to be blossoming, filling the garden with color and perfume, and in due course bearing fruit. The Easter season ought to be a time to take up something new, some new task or venture, something wholesome and fruitful and outgoing and self-giving. . . . if you really make a start on it, it might give you a sniff of new possibilities, new hopes, new ventures you never dreamed of. It might help you wake up in a whole new way. And that’s what Easter is all about."
So dear Church, lift up your hearts! [response: we lift them up to the Lord!] Christ is Risen! [response: He is Risen Indeed!]. As Christians, we often think of "heaven" as a reunion with our loved ones, but what if that reunion is even greater, one of Heaven and Earth, when the work of our hands, the strength of our bodies, the restoration of our hearts, minds and communities will see genuine wholeness and shalom once again? This is indeed the promise of Our Risen Lord to us, that He is coming to make all things new again! (Rev. 21:5).
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
-Psalm 139:11,12
I pray the Risen Lord would meet you in marvelous ways this Eastertide season, even in the midst of so many deep and difficult heartaches and struggles. I've loved hearing "Kingdom Stories" from Grace Van folks throughout this season, and I also want to invite you this Sunday to stick around after our Zoom service, for our Zoom Randomizer Social. There is rain in the forecast this Sunday, so as promised, instead of outdoor communion, we will have a chance to get to know one another a bit following the service, being randomly "partnered" up in break-out rooms of 3-4 people/families, discussing this question, "What is something you have always wanted to learn how to do?" This idea of the Zoom Randomizer Social as well as the actual question is the genius of Reuben Moes who wants to get to know Grace Van folks just a little better, so thank you Reuben!
Blessings in Christ dear friends,
Pastor Mike
