Crazy About You (Mid-week Message)

Crazy About You

Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message May 2, 2012

As we continue our path through the great Fifty Days of Easter, we are reading many passages in the Eucharistic Lectionary as well as the Daily Office Lectionary about our new identities in Christ. 

You may have noticed that instead of “Glory to God in the Highest” as our Gathering Song of Praise, each Sunday in Easter we have been singing the Canticle Pascha Nostrum, a stringing together of several of Paul’s poetic descriptions of the resurrection (1 Corinthians 5:7-8; Romans 6:9-11; and 1 Corinthians 15:20-22): 

Alleluia.
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us;
therefore let us keep the feast,

Not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil,
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Alleluia.

Christ being raised from the dead will never die again;
death no longer has dominion over him.

The death that he died, he died to sin, once for all;
but the life he lives, he lives to God.

So also consider yourselves dead to sin,
and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Alleluia.

Christ has been raised from the dead,
the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For since by a man came death,
by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die,
so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Alleluia.

The idea is that we have died to our old selves and now are alive, and have new identities in the Resurrected Lord. 

When it comes to identities, whether old or new, it is important to ask ourselves who exactly we think we are and what we think others think of us.  Note in this regard the comments by Psychologist David Benner in his book Surrender to Love about what God thinks of us: 

“Imagine God thinking about you. What do you assume God feels when you come to mind? When I ask people to do this, a surprising number of people say that the first thing they assume God feels is disappointment. Others assume that God feels anger. In both cases, these people are convinced that it is their sin that first catches God's attention. I think they are wrong- and I think the consequences of such a view of God are enormous.  … 

“Regardless of what you have come to believe about God based on your life experience, the truth is that when God thinks of you, love swells in his heart and a smile comes to his face. God bursts with love for humans. He is far from being emotionally uninvolved with his creation. God’s bias toward us is strong, persistent and positive. The Christian God chooses to be known as Love, and that love pervades every aspect of God’s relationship with us.  …

“If you assume God looks at you with disgust, disappointment, frustration or anger, the central feature of any spiritual response to such a God will be an effort to earn his approval. … How could anyone expect to feel safe enough to relax in the presence of a God who is preoccupied with their shortcomings and failures?  …

“Genuinely encountering Love is not the same as inviting Jesus into your heart, joining or attending a church, or doing what Jesus commands. It is the experience of love that is transformational. You simply cannot bask in divine love and not be affected.”

Jesus' victory over evil and death on Easter changes the game for all of us.  That is why Paul says “even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” 

Do you believe in a God that loves you, that is crazy about you?  Is the God you imagine in your heart as overwhelmingly bursting with kind feelings, loving concern, and affection for you as the one suggested by Jesus in the parable of the Loving Father (the one with the Prodigal Son)?  If this idea is difficult for you to feel and accept in your heart, whether because of some theological habit or personal burden, that means something is amiss.  I stand ready to talk with you in private about it, share experience and listen to yours, and pray with you. 

With the spring now here, and warmer weather, many of us are wearing shorter clothes and taking time to bask in the sunshine.  As part of your spiritual discipline this week, take time this week to simply bask in God’s love for a few minutes as well. 

--Fr. Tony+ 

[Thanks to the Rev. Jemma Allen and the Rev. Andrew Coyle for bringing this passage from Benner to my attention.]