"We all need a little resurrection!"

We were getting ready to sing along with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra for their presentation of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, the so-called "Resurrection Symphony". The Syracuse University Oratorio Society (of which I am a part) were combining with the Syracuse University Singers for this concert.

Our chorus directors were giving us our last minute pep talk before taking our seats onstage. Professor Warren of the University Singers told us how much work we had put in, how he and Professor DeKaney (our director) had knit-picked" every aspect of the choral section along the way.

He urged us to remember all of their instructions. But then he noted, "Don't lose sight of the meaning of what you're singing. It's about resurrection, renewal of life." Then, he remembered that he was speaking to many college students, and many people (young and old) who were members of different faith communities (or of no faith community), and so he added, "And, you know, we all need a little resurrection."

I don't know about you (you weren't there to hear the professor's oration) but I thought this was so funny (read, ludicrous). I turned to a couple of fellow basses and said (somewhat mockingly), "Well, I guess I know what the theme of my next Easter sermon will be, 'we all need a little resurrection.'"

On the way home after the concert, when I told this story to my wife Susan and our friend Bob, they immediately starting singing this theme to the tune of the song from the musical Mame "We need a little Christmas right this very minute..."

Now, Professor Warren was not trying to be disrespectful. He wasn't trying to trivialize the Resurrection. He knew and spoke often of the tortured view of life that Mahler experienced and that he expressed in his symphony. There is nothing trivial about the challenge to believe in the resurrection to eternal life in this world where misery, hardship, injustice and death are so very evident. But the professor was trying to ease any tension we felt. And, perhaps, he was trying to act "cool" . I don't know.

In any case it caused me to think again of how easy it is for us to trivialize that which is most important in life. And, how easy it is for us to give importance to that which does not last.

This is a great weekend in the course of the church's calendar. It is All Saints weekend. Like Christmas it begins with All Saints (Hallows) Eve (Halloween) which recalls the opening of all the graves on the Day of Judgement. It continues with the remembrance of the Saints and finally on the third day of the festival the veneration of all souls. The message of this feast is the gift of God's grace in promising life beyond these "three score and ten".

The meaning of life goes beyond the material, the temporal, the manageable. Yet we give ourselves over to the trivial. We focus on the parties, the costumes and candy of Halloween and fail to understand that this one night is the prelude to the great feast of the rising of the saints and all souls from their graves to live forever in the glorious presence of God.

In much the same way we become concerned about many things in life. We become anxious over "pocketbook issues." In fact politicians look to play upon these very anxieties.

In today's "Stillspeaking Devotional" Bill Green wrote about these things in Paul's first Letter to the Thessalonians.

"Finding love and security in hard times was as difficult for the first
Christians as it can be for us. Paul emphasizes the Holy Spirit, or “God’s word
at work in you believers," as the source of strength in the face of doubt.
This power enables believers to overcome fear and find hope realistically and
confidently. In our own ways today, by looking to God and no longer, as Waylon
Jennings sang, 'looking for love in all the wrong places, looking for love in
too many faces,' we become freer and more hopeful, less anxious and needy.
This is what God’s power makes possible--God’s power, not ours, and beyond
anything we believe possible."

God's power to work through the faith and faithfulness of God's people, God's faith in responding to calls for justice and peace, God's desire to promote whatever is good, thebeautiful and the true is anything but trivial. It is the battle of life that always works to overcome death. As Mahler wrote,

"What is created must perish! What dies must be reborn! Leave off trembling! Prepare yourself to live! O grief, you all-pervading, I am escaping you! O death, you all-conquering, now you are overcome! With wings that I have won in love's fervent striving shall I soar to the light, which no eye has penetrated!

"With wings that I have won for myself, shall I soar! I shall die, so as to live! Resurrected, yes, yo shall rise up, my heart, in an instant! That which you have vanquished, to God shall it bear you!"

Yes, I guess we all need a little resurrection.

Blessings,

Rick Cowles

P.S. This is my first posting in a couple of months. I've been spending most of my "extra" time working on my website of resources for local churches (www.flowingstreams.org). I invite you to check it out. R