REFRESHING THE BASICS OF OUR FAITH
(Sunday, October 8)
“Glory to Your holy resurrection, O Lord!” (Refrain, Canon of the Resurrection)
What does it mean, to praise and celebrate the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ? And why do we do it year round, Sunday after Sunday? It does mean refreshing our “memory” of a historic event that happened two millennia ago, very early in the morning (when it was still dark) on the first day of the week, just outside the walls of Jerusalem. But it also means refreshing our faith in the most basic truths about God; about how He “works,” not only in bible-stories from the past, but specifically in our lives, day after day, when we let Him.
The true God “works” in our world primarily as One who brings light out of darkness, from Day One of creation. He also brings life from death, as He revealed on The Third Day, when He created the plants and, more importantly, the “seeds” that fall to the ground and die, to bring forth new life (Gen 1:11-12). Right now, in the fall, we are reminded of this mystery all around us, as we see the foliage “dying” in nature, so that new life can appear in the spring.
We also experience transitions from illness to health, from spiritual or physical weakness to strength, from confusion to clarity, from resentment to forgiveness, and so on, – not without the help of our life-creating God. And all this points to the “bigger picture,” if we look at this in faith and hope (as we are reminded to do every Sunday), of the Resurrection of the Dead. It is inaugurated by One of us, the incarnate Son of God, Who passed from physical death to physical life “on the third day” two millennia ago, and invited us to have physical communion with Him, eating and drinking of His resurrected Body and Blood, so that we also become capable of resurrection, as participants thereof. Glory to Your holy resurrection, O Lord! Let us let ourselves pass from darkness to light, and from death to light, once again, in communion with You.
