The LifeNote

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             When Jesus died the Bible tells us the curtain guarding the Holy of Holies was torn in two from top to bottom. The Holy of Holies was the place in the Jewish temple where God was supposed to live. Only the High Priest could enter it and he could only enter it once each year. But Jesus’ death and resurrection changed all that. The curtain was torn in two, from top to bottom, indicating the complete destruction of that curtain. God had “escaped,” if you will. God was not separated from us ordinary people. God was with us and in us.

             There was no more separate, sacred space. The line between the sacred and the profane was removed. All that had been profane was now sacred. Everyone and everything was blessed and belonged to God.

             This is why I balked when the ecumenical powers that be voted to create “ordinary” time in the lectionary. The lectionary is a scriptural guide helping pastors to preach through the Bible during the year. It runs on a three year cycle, offering three to four texts to use each week. In the past, there were no ordinary Sundays. Every Sunday belonged to a special time such as Easter, Pentecost, Advent, Christmas, Lent or Kingdomtide. I liked that. Every Sunday was special.

             At the same time, every Sunday is ordinary. This is life. We live in the world but we are not of the world. We are sacred and we are

ordinary. But, we are still Easter people, on an ordinary day or not. Life with Jesus is not like life without Jesus. Every morning is Easter morning, from now on, just as the popular folk song teaches us. Every day is resurrection day, the past is over and gone. Each ordinary day is lived from a new perspective. The holy is part of the ordinary all the time. The ordinary is part of the holy all the time. This is what it means to be Easter people.

             When we embrace our God-given Easter nature, how does that reality change the way we live each day? For one thing, nothing is so ordinary we can’t be bothered with it, and nothing is so holy we can’t touch it. Our entire reality is permeated by this mysterious truth. The concept embraces both people and things. We sin, we turn away from God, whenever we disdain the ordinary because of its “mereness.” We sin, we turn away from God, whenever we set apart the holy as too wonderful to be profaned by ordinary people.

             Easter people live differently than those who don’t embrace resurrection living. Easter people share aliveness. They can’t help it. They have to be in mission. They have to breathe hope into those who believe they have no hope. They have to share the sacredness they have been given so that all might experience new, holy, lives in their everyday ordinariness.