Saturday, April 19, 2014

between


The seasons of the Christian year follow the life of Christ. So it's easy to focus on the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. These are certainly highlights, but they lose their power if I fail to observe the daily journey of seasons of preparation such as Advent and Lent and Holy Week or the seasons of Easter or following Pentecost when there is daily living in the truths of the living presence of Christ and of the Holy Spirit. Christmas and Easter are the tip of the iceberg of Christian experience and fullness of life. Some Christians look down on those who only go to worship on Christmas and Easter. But Do I fully understand how my Christian life, i.e., the life of Christ within me, can't be fully formed unless I seek out the riches of life between the highlights? If I'm truthful with myself, I realize that the glare of those celebrations often keeps me from seeing the necessity of what's in between them.

The daily journey is given shape by the highlights, but one is not more important than the other. There are those who look down on celebration as being too extravagant. I suppose they are like the older brother who refuses to join the party the father is giving. But that's not me. I readily admit that celebrations are important. In God's presence is fullness of joy. On the other hand, living only for the big celebrations can cause me to overlook the daily mysteries God has for me. I'm reminded of Annie Dillard's description of the amazing depths that she found in small wonders during her time as a "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek". These are the graces that normally feed me and from which most of my growth is intended to come. I'll grow fat and unhealthy if I eat only banquet food.

The highlight events themselves become more deeply meaningful through my experience of the daily journey. I can better understand what it means for Jesus to be God Incarnate if I more fully experience my own incarnation, the intertwining of my body and spirit. My own suffering and triumphs help me realize how much more Jesus took on himself and how much greater his victory was on Easter. If I don't see Christmas and Good Friday and Easter through the lens of my daily journey, they become facades, a spiritual Disneyland of contrived worship experiences that cynics could easily dismiss and which well-meaning Christians may come to find empty after the decorations are put away.

Or putting away the decorations can be a way to continue my dialog with God. What is God saying to me through this activity? And then, what is God saying to me in the daily journey lived outside the glare of celebration? And eventually I come again to asking, what is God saying to me through the activity of preparation for celebration? God doesn't speak only in times of celebration. He is speaking all the time in his still, small voice, and his transforming power is at work in the daily journey, perhaps especially then. Today is Holy Saturday. It's a day between. But it's not a day without grace if I will take the effort to attend to God's work on this day, too.