How do you see Jesus? So many questions, so many answers.
As we celebrate Pentecost this coming Sunday, we also celebrate the birth of the church and, lately, I have been thinking about “church” and Jesus. I have been asking myself some hard questions.
One of the biggest questions I have been asked lately is “why do I stay a Christian”?
If I had been required to answer that question even 15 years ago, I would have said because “the church, as a family, with its tradition and ritual, has been my rock through some very difficult times”.
With so much in the news about the harm the Christian churches have done over many, many years in the area of sexual abuse, condoned and hidden within its ranks, and now the spotlight on the cultural genocide imposed by colonialism and the residential school system, I now realize that I have stayed a Christian because of Jesus.
So, who is Jesus really and who has Jesus been for me? I would have to say that staying a Christian, especially today, is about staying in and with and through the man who defied the abuse of power, who would not bow to empire, who drew no boundaries and welcomed all, who spoke up when injustice was condoned or tolerated, who promoted love and peace and yes, even healing…….so many things……
So, that brings me to another question for those who may be asking themselves who Jesus is?
Has your Jesus stayed the same for you throughout your Christian journey?
For me personally, Jesus has not stayed the same through my whole life’s journey. He is not that blond haired blue-eyed angelic babe in a manger of my Childhood Christmases. He is not that meek lamb led to the slaughter on Good Friday. In fact, he was a man of change, a man with the courage to take on the status quo and question those who wielded power with abuse. He was and is so many things we may yet discover.
And so, I’ve had to be open to understanding that, even though there’s one verse in Hebrews that says “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever” [Hebrews 13:8] Jesus has not stayed the same because I have not stayed the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The church has not stayed the same yesterday, today, and forever.
I realize that, in a very real way, Jesus changes because Jesus changes for the world.
Jesus changes for the institutions of faith, for the church….and if we are unable to let the end of one image emerge for us and a new image of Jesus be born, we are probably in a pretty static place in our own faith.
In her book Freeing Jesus, (Note 1) the author describes our relationship with Jesus as a dynamic opportunity to see God and ourselves perpetually anew – like our celebration of Pentecost don’t you think?
Staying in and with and through Jesus does not mean getting the right answers from a creed, or remembering the points of doctrine from a sermon because, if that is the plan, we probably do not truly know Jesus.
“Who are you, Lord?” [Acts 9:3–5] is the question of a lifetime, to be asked and experienced over and over again. That query frees Jesus to show up in our lives over and over again, and entails remembering where we first met, how we struggled with each other along the road, and what we learned in the process. (Note 2).
So, welcome Pentecost, welcome wind and flames and the stirring of Spirit!
In Peace
Pastor Beryl, DLM