I have now survived over 57 Easters. Hundreds of pounds of chocolate and eggs consumed. Countless meals and parades, family pictures, dinners… all the while celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus. In all those years, I am not sure I really thought about the day, the reason for the day, or why I was celebrating.
It’s easy when you grow up Catholic and Christian, I list the two because in some minds they are distinct, you are trained that Easter is the day when it all comes together, your salvation is won, the price is paid, Jesus takes all of your sins to the Cross, dies and rises again. There really is not much to think about. Its a fact. It happened.
But after 56 years I asked myself Why? And what was the Price? I guess I can blame walking for those questions. My wife convinced me to walk 10,000 steps a day, or most days, and I tried to do just that. But walking is incredibly boring, and 10,000 steps takes over an hour, so rather than listen to music, something I am not fond of, I downloaded some books and began to listen to them. One of those was a C S Lewis book named Mere Christianity. That book got me thinking. As I thought, more questions came to mind. Cascading thoughts made me feel down and l even more incomplete in understanding the faith that I professed. As luck would have it, a bible study group I attend starting reading Hebrews, and that provoked more questions. When I have questions, I look for answers.
For forty days I have looked and have found some answers. Although I still have more. I started this blog to collect my thoughts. Someday maybe someone else will read these and maybe the writings will help them make sense of their own faith. Or maybe this will only be for my peace of mind. Whatever happens, God will be the one who decides.
So let’s start. God created the Heavens and the Earth. He made Angels, perfect beings with intelligence and beauty. He also made the opposite, Humans, being with no intelligence and a physical beauty that fades. Humans had the capacity to learn, Angels already were filled with knowledge. It seems that both needed to learn Wisdom.
The Angels were given a choice. Follow God or don’t follow God. Knowledge says, we can all grow and learn and grow, eventually becoming as great and wonderful as out creator. Wisdom say, no you cannot, and its better to be Gods friend than his enemy. The wise Angels chose God, the ones filled with knowledge are still trying to become God and failing. There is no forgiveness in the ranks of the Angels, your decision is final. Thus came good and evil. With either Wisdom leading or the pursuit of Knowledge.
Now let’s talk about Humans. We weren’t very knowledgeable, but we were made to learn. While we were learning God was going to guide us and teach us to be Wise. We started strong, and than failed. Epic fail. We had everything we wanted, but we wanted Knowledge because we wanted to be like God. Humans have a fatal flaw. If God is not standing in front of them, we forget God. We diminish His power in our own minds and make our power greater. So we decided to take a shot of becoming like God. And it didn’t work.
But God made us and He knew were weak, so He offered us a little thing called Forgiveness. Something He didn’t offer the Angels. Than He set us on a path to learn Wisdom. That path leads to the cross. That path leads to the Resurrection and to Pentecost.
Only after we choose God do we get the final element of creation, and we can’t make that choice until we, both individually and collectively, are ready to make it. That final element, that the Angels received once they chose God and the fallen angels do not have, is the Spirit of God. Throughout the Old Testament the Spirit of God showed itself, a cloud, a pillar of fire, a burning bush, tongues of fire, storms, etc. Always at arms length. But after Pentecost that Spirit came to live in the souls of the followers of Jesus. It is that Spirit that strengthens the believer and tortures the soul of those who, after accepting and receiving that Spirit, ignore God leaving the Spirit to dwell surrounded by filth. That Spirit brings Joy and Peace or Anxiety and Depression. That Spirit is the ticket to Heaven.
Lord help me to make your dwelling beautiful, so Your Spirit can strengthen and guide me home.
The musings of Peter 