Children of Resurrection and Children of God

Beloved of God, grace to you and peace from God our Creator and the Savior of the world Jesus the Christ. Amen.

From Sunday afternoon through Tuesday afternoon, I was away at the Southeastern Minnesota Synod’s Fall Theological Conference. Every autumn, pastors from around the synod gather together for three days of learning, community, and rest. Some pretty fun stuff happened – I was part of a hymns on tap musical group made up of two guitarists, a banjo player, an myself on the violin as we played for the six people who decided to sing with us, I got to have good conversations with my home pastors from Cannon Falls, and spend time with my text study group from Spring Valley. The speakers and presenters, however, were probably my favorite part. Rev. Dr. Karoline Lewis, a preaching professor at Luther Seminary, gave two keynote addresses on the human body as a way to do theology and see God revealed, and I attended a workshop lead by Native American pastor Rev. Jim Bear on the value of storytelling and the importance of the storyteller. I drove home from this conference with a different perspective on just what it means that we live in our bodies and how they can reflect God.

One of the stories that Rev. Jim Bear shared was the Native American experience on Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, only a few hours from here. The statistics are staggering and heartbreaking: 80% of its now estimated 35,000 populations are unemployed. 98% of its residents live below the federal poverty level, 85% of families are affected by alcoholism, the school drop-out rate is near 70%, the infant mortality rate is more than 5 times the national average, teen suicides skyrocket to four times the national average, and life expectancy is only 48 years for men and 52 for women. These statistics were shared with our breakout group, and then a video was shown lifting up voices on the reservation. This video, set to Oglala tribe hip-hop, acknowledged the reality of life on the reservation with its complicated colonialist history. The most important part of the video was to see people who lived on the reservations holding signs, holding children, and holding a fire in their eyes that promised to defy those harrowing statistics. Through song and through protest, the Oglala people encouraged and implored for a better way of life. That they would work, and call us also, to work for an end to opioid addiction, alcoholism, and to fight for better access to employment, schooling, and social support services. The point of the workshop was to highlight how we tell our life stories, and move from tragedy into inspiration; to use anger as a tool so that we as a society might help to build a better life for those who are struggling among us – in our own communities, in South Dakota, and around our world. Together, we are called as Christian people to work for the right for all people to live – live in safety, security, and harmony with one another.

Our Gospel text for today from the Gospel of Luke talk about God as the God of the living. That means that God as our creator and redeemer is concerned with our bodies, our relationships, and how we conduct our lives. Jesus in this passage is teaching amongst a group of people in the temple, and there are religious officials and leaders present among them who are trying to question Jesus authority, entrap him in a lie or misstatement, and lay hands on him to end his ministry throughout Israel. By now, the dominant religious groups had gotten word of Jesus of Nazareth, and they wanted to put a stop to his teaching and leading because if taken too far Jesus might upend their power, prestige, and influence. They ask him a question pertaining to Israelite next-of-kin customs: there are seven brothers, and the first one marries his wife but dies childless. In succession the younger six brothers marry the woman, and all of them die childless. In the resurrection, they are asking, in the new heaven and new earth, whose wife will she be? It is worth remembering that in this time and culture, a woman’s body was the property of male-dominated partriarchy, and they had little to no autonomy – so their question “Whose wife will she be?” is coming from a desire to have ownership over rather than necessarily an expectation of love or remembrance in life after death. To this question, Jesus has a beautiful response: the most important thing in life is not marriage, but that we expand our view – the most important thing in this life is that we become children of resurrection and children of God. The most important thing in this life is that we look for heaven breaking in here on earth. And that, my friends, should profoundly change how we live while we are here in this life. If, as Jesus says, God is a God of the living, for to him all of them are alive, then we should constantly be viewing this life through the lens of heaven, where all will be made new, and strive to live out the ideals and promises of Christ’s resurrection. This looks like many things – building relationships, supporting one another, living deeply in love for our neighbors and ourselves, and caring for this world God made. No longer, in consideration of the resurrection, does our earthly, material status define all of who we are. We become, in the eyes of God and through the cross of Christ, resurrection people, who have won over death and sin forever.

And, my friends, if we live as resurrection people, that promise invites us to live deeply within ourselves – that our bodies, flesh and bone and ecstasy and celebration and despair and pain all contained within us, become places where God dwells, meets us, and transforms us. I want you to think about this question this week: What is God telling you through your body? How might your body reveal God’s resurrection for you? How might we tell our human stories so that others are lifted up from despair and pain? How might we become alive in service to God’s Spirit and calling? These questions matter, and our Native American and indigenous siblings at Pine Ridge have already offered an invitation: despite their circumstances in this present moment, they vow that it will not remain that way forever. They tell us that a different story is possible, but it won’t come so easily. Through their bodies and their voices, they are working for change – change that looks a whole lot like God’s coming reign. Through their bodies, they are tearing down stories that separate and condemn, to build up a more beloved, more just society. I invite us to think together about how we can use our bodies and our voices to create a more kind, fair, and equitable community and world, always holding God’s visions in our grasp. My friends, as always, I give thanks for our ministry together and for how we bear Christ’s witness to our world – one that promises the way of life, one that celebrates all of God’s children, and one that calls for an end to injustice and harm. Might we continue to live in this spirit, and deep within ourselves, because God has called us. Thanks be to God. Amen.