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Coffee With Sister Vassa
SPREADING THE GOOD NEWS, NOT THE BAD NEWS
“Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” (1 Cor 15: 12-14)
We might not walk around saying that there is “no resurrection of the dead,” but at the same time, we might live as if we didn’t believe in it, really. How is it that we believe in the resurrection of the dead? We “look for” it in every situation, “expect” it, or “yearn” for it, as we say in the Creed: Προσδοκῶ ἀνάστασιν νεκρῶν / exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum / чаю воскресения мертвых. As Christians, we are called always to be looking forward, toward this “happy end,” rather than dreading doom-and-gloom, as if that’s what is awaiting us just around the corner. What awaits us, and what we await, is a good thing, not a bad thing.
We do not need to take each bad thing we experience or hear in the news and make it even worse, by seeing in it some kind of sign that we’re all doomed. Bad things are a challenge to be met and overcome through the goodness and hope of our Lord, which we are meant to convey into our world, rather than doom and gloom. If we’re living in fear or dread, then “our preaching is in vain,” as St. Paul says, and our “faith is in vain.”
This morning let me see any negative thought-processes, especially those involving fear and anger, as opportunities. These are taps on the shoulder that it’s time to turn things around and re-embrace the new life that is always on offer, in our ever-present Lord. His new life breaks into my world already here, time and again, whenever I get up from the small deaths of fear-based thinking and let myself be present to Him. This does not mean sticking my head in the sand or seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. It means, in practical terms, taking a bit of time for heartfelt prayer and gratitude; taking down a notch my (over)sharing of bad news either online or offline; and seeing how I can do my part today, to spread light and not darkness. Lord, let me be a vessel of Your peace and Your hope today. Amen!
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Sister Vassa begins her reflection with a sobering thought: We may claim to believe one thing, but live as if we do not really believe it. One of the best "candidates" for that dubious distinction may just be the claim that "I look for the resurrection of the dead." Whenever we are present in the Liturgy - on the Lord's Day, a Feast Day, or on a "simple" weekday - that is the resounding final statement (together with "and the life of the world to come") that we make as a gathered body. That is the basis of her reflection, so I am simply saying that perhaps we need to be more attentive and conscious to what we are publicly confessing to believe. There is great joy in that!
