The song I grew up singing at Easter Mass has taken on a new meaning for me over the past year: "We are an Easter people, and Hallelujah is our song." As Christians, we are a people of the resurrection - a rebirth that indicates the coming of God's kingdom to earth.
Growing up, I remember focusing so much of my efforts on Jesus's death, especially around these days of Holy Week. I was told over and over that Jesus died for my sins, even that my sins killed Jesus. I don't believe that anymore. Jesus died because he loved all people, despite their sins. And that choice - the choice to love - was a political choice with political consequences. Jesus didn't just die for the outcasts in his society; he lived for them. Death is a one-time, short-term decision (albeit with long-term consequences). Living for someone unconditionally takes repeated choices for the good, repeated consequences with repeated opportunities to let go of the social stigma that comes with standing in the margins, with loving society's outcasts.
That pain, that rejection, was what led Jesus to the cross.
It was through those choices that Jesus made to love the outcast that brought us to the Resurrection. Martyrs throughout the ages have been martyred for similar actions of attempting to bring about the Resurrection, the kingdom of God, through loving the oppressed and meeting people where they are. In Latin America, Oscar Romero, the six Jesuits at la Universidad Centroamericana, and countless others stood with the peasants as the wealthy stole their land. More recently, Frans van der Lugt refused to leave Syria because that's where the people he loved were, and he was executed. These people and so many others refused to let their own safety stop them from building God's kingdom on earth, just as Jesus did.
Over the past year, I have developed a new understanding of that kingdom through living in intentional community at the Catholic Worker community. I've experienced people who were strangers welcome me in with open arms, do favors for me, cheer for my successes, and mourn my setbacks. I've seen a microcosm of what the kingdom of God can look like even when it's made up of imperfect humans. And it's beautiful.
Today, our community lifted its voice to unite all suffering into the path that leads toward the coming of God's kingdom. We stood publicly against injustice by praying the Stations of the Cross on the American Legion Mall downtown, with a focus on modern injustices. May we have impacted just one life with love tonight, and we will have built up God's kingdom. It is possible.
Growing up, I remember focusing so much of my efforts on Jesus's death, especially around these days of Holy Week. I was told over and over that Jesus died for my sins, even that my sins killed Jesus. I don't believe that anymore. Jesus died because he loved all people, despite their sins. And that choice - the choice to love - was a political choice with political consequences. Jesus didn't just die for the outcasts in his society; he lived for them. Death is a one-time, short-term decision (albeit with long-term consequences). Living for someone unconditionally takes repeated choices for the good, repeated consequences with repeated opportunities to let go of the social stigma that comes with standing in the margins, with loving society's outcasts.
That pain, that rejection, was what led Jesus to the cross.
It was through those choices that Jesus made to love the outcast that brought us to the Resurrection. Martyrs throughout the ages have been martyred for similar actions of attempting to bring about the Resurrection, the kingdom of God, through loving the oppressed and meeting people where they are. In Latin America, Oscar Romero, the six Jesuits at la Universidad Centroamericana, and countless others stood with the peasants as the wealthy stole their land. More recently, Frans van der Lugt refused to leave Syria because that's where the people he loved were, and he was executed. These people and so many others refused to let their own safety stop them from building God's kingdom on earth, just as Jesus did.
Over the past year, I have developed a new understanding of that kingdom through living in intentional community at the Catholic Worker community. I've experienced people who were strangers welcome me in with open arms, do favors for me, cheer for my successes, and mourn my setbacks. I've seen a microcosm of what the kingdom of God can look like even when it's made up of imperfect humans. And it's beautiful.
Today, our community lifted its voice to unite all suffering into the path that leads toward the coming of God's kingdom. We stood publicly against injustice by praying the Stations of the Cross on the American Legion Mall downtown, with a focus on modern injustices. May we have impacted just one life with love tonight, and we will have built up God's kingdom. It is possible.
