Experience a little resurrection

The problem with believing in the resurrection is that we have never seen it happen. Jesus’ resurrection is beyond scientific proof as it is unrepeatable until the end of time. While we do have some people survive near death experiences, no one comes back from the grave never to die again. It is, other than Jesus, beyond our experience.

The Poet and Preacher John Donne (1572-1631) was fascinated by the Resurrection. He wrote poems about it and came back to the topic again and again in his sermons. Living as a preacher in the time of plague kept the topic at the forefront for Donne.

Donne said that while resurrection was something we could not see in nature, we could see it foreshadowed in nature. The same way the sun dies each day to appear anew the next. The same way an acorn drops to the ground, seemingly dead, and then grows into a mighty oak. In that same way, if we saw actual resurrection, the way we see its foreshadowing, then we would not marvel at resurrection.

Donne wrote, “If churchyards did vent themselves every spring, and that there were such a resurrection of bodies every year, when thou had seen as many resurrections as years, the resurrection would be no stranger to thee, than spring is…”

For Donne the signs of spring are an important taste of things to come. And we have signs of these own little resurrections in our own lives. We have it in the springtime, when the seemingly dead branches spring forth with life. We have it elsewhere in our lives as well. We experience an answer to pray and then quickly explain it away or forget the power of prayer once we receive that answer.

We cease to marvel, just as Donne wrote that we would cease to marvel if the graveyards gave up their dead every spring. We would become so accustomed to resurrection that it would be of little note. It’s as if God is shouting that death and resurrection are still an option and we are not always listening.

An important image in scripture of this sort of foreshadowing of resurrection is that of water coming to a dry and barren land. The southern desert in Israel, called the Negev, is an uninhabitable waste. When the rain comes, the land will not accept it and the water quickly runs off. But Israel had channeled that water. They built cisterns to catch and store the rainwater, to make a barren land able to support life.

In Psalm 126, the psalmist cries out, “Restore our fortunes O Lord, like the watercourses of the Negev.” The psalmist needs God’s healing touch like a barren desert needs water. We just need to make room for God’s healing presence to soak in and to remain. The water that comes to the desert brings life to the dry places.

Look at your own life and the times you thought you could barely lift your head and go on. Then there was a little resurrection—a dry place sprang back to life. God helped you find the strength to move on.

For some reading this column, you are in that barren place in need of a little resurrection now. If so, you can pray for God to give you the healing touch you need for a little resurrection. In fact, for any of us, we can use a little experience of the resurrection in our lives.

Look at the ways in which you have seen evidence of the resurrection in your own life, in nature, and in the dark times of your life made bright. And if you have never experienced that power in your life, give it a try.

The best proof I can offer for Jesus’ resurrection is not scientific evidence, but something more irrefutable for you. The best proof is to follow the advice of scripture to taste and see if God is good. Give God a try this Easter. Pray for a little resurrection in your life. Then really leave your heart open for God to come in and act in your life. See if God does not flood water into the barren places and begin to make all things new.

Yes, you can do this on your own, but there is nothing that can beat the experience of getting together with other Christians who are also looking for a little touch of resurrection power. Today in Good Friday services and then Sunday beginning with sunrise services, more than 100 churches throughout this county will offer an array of options for anyone looking to experience something of the resurrection.

Be encouraged to seek out the church of your choice and go this Easter to soak up as much of the life-giving water, that little experience of resurrection, as you can.

(The Rev. Frank Logue is pastor of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland.)

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