Everyday Resurrection
We are invited to not only celebrate Easter on one Sunday a year, but the invitation is to learn how to continually express the hope of resurrection in our every day lives.
The focus of HVG is to partner with community leaders in order to empower vulnerable women and children so that communities can be renewed. In view of this, here are a couple of points on how we see the hope of resurrection, which is why we believe the beauty and brilliance of vulnerable women and children is something that is worth speaking up for and living towards restoration in.
The Foundation of Resurrection is rooted in mercy.
Therefore, when the temple curtain is torn as a response of The Father to the words of Jesus, “Dad, Why have you forsaken Me?” the response of The Father is, “I haven’t. I am here my Son. In fact, just like a Father would tear his garment open to show grief, so I am doing the same for You. Yet, just as You know, my Son, behind the veil is My presence, sitting in the Mercy Seat. So, since mercy is entering into pain and offering healing from the inside out, the merciful power I am present with in The Cross, is the merciful power that will raise you.”
This is also why in Jn. 20 we see two angels in the Tomb. It is the picture of the Mercy Seat “incarnating” since two carved angels were what was represented in The Temple. Mercy has entered into the deepest and darkest wound of the world and resurrection has happened. In other words, this foundation of mercy for Resurrection sets the tone for our own resurrection, along with how we can walk with others who are in need of Resurrection.
The Physicality of Jesus in Resurrection is a “first fruit” of how we understand Resurrection.
Jesus was not raised as a disembodied spirit. He was raised with a physical body, yet this body also has greater abilities than our current bodies (after all, He walked through walls etc!). This is important because we must see this first fruit of resurrection as a “resurrection of reclamation”. He is not abandoning what He called good in Gen. 1 & 2. He is reclaiming. Heaven is coming to Earth. This is what we even pray, “Your Kingdom come (not your Kingdom go) on Earth as it is in Heaven.” So, it makes much greater sense to realize Heaven as much more physical (not less) than Earth. One day, when He comes a second time, all will be made new, Heaven and Earth will be one, and the Renewed Heavens (read “cosmos”) and Renewed Earth will be fully enjoyed by all those who have entrusted themselves to the Merciful One who is renewing all things.
The restoration anthem of mercy and the renewal of the physical, these are two reasons why we continue to work tirelessly toward speaking and living the sacredness of Resurrection into the those we serve.
Live loved,
Vernon