Christ is Risen!
He is risen indeed!
Thank you so much for joining us during these 40 Days. I hope the reflections have been a blessing to you, as they have to me.
If you didn’t get a book and would still like one, please let us know!
This is the “end” for now, but we hope you will join us again during Advent.
Until then…
Be well,
Pastor Raewyn
“Yours is the kingdom?”
“And the power?”
“And the glory?”
“forever?”
Have you ever been in a place where you were tempted to ask these questions of God? I’m sure that the two Marys, sitting there at the tomb on Silent Sabbath with Jesus’ body just on the other side of the stone, were pondering these sentiments.
The previous petition in the Lord’s Prayer was a deliverance from evil, but on Silent Sabbath you were in the grave. Death was fully at work in you. Your body stiffened, your followers scattered, and your enemies vigilant.
Mary, Mary, and the universe sat in silent anticipation to see what, if anything at all, was next. Does something come of this death? Can hope arise from this ending? Is there anything else? Is there more?!
When we go to the movies, I like to get out before the ending credits, before the bodies begin sauntering out to their cars, causing jams in the parking lot. But my wife on the other hand likes to stay till all the credits have scrolled and the lights come back on, making us the very last humans left in the hollow building. The fear of missing something if we leave too soon has her glued to her chair till there is nothing left. So there we sit, agonizing through an eternal list of names that we don’t know anything about, till the very end, all in order to resolve the question, “Is there more?!”
Likewise, the two Marys sat by the tomb aghast at how this ending was not what they had expected. They sat there in their pain, doubt, and lostness, processing what might be next. How can this one who proclaimed the kingdom is near, who exercised powerover illness and hunger, whose glory drew thousands together, be so…dead? Is this the end of the story or is there more?!
In the manuscripts dated earliest, the Lord’s Prayer ended with Jesus petitioning God to keep us from evil. But in later manuscripts, we begin to see forms that close with the doxology of Kingdom, power, and glory, phrases that are well-known and commonly used today.
I imagine that later Jesus communities who recited the Lord’s Prayer collectively, began to envision that indeed there might be more! Maybe there was an awakening of a “deep realization that you and I are met in prayer by an immovable, sure, and relentless love” (McRoberts and Erickson) and that this love offers more! Always more! At the end, more! At death, more! In life, more! Always more!
“For yours is the kingdom
And the power
And the glory forever.
Amen.”
It is a reminder that through it all, God’s kingdom of love reigns, God’s power of love sustains, and God’s glorious love always remains, even past the end. This kingdom, power, and glory may surprise us if we are willing to trust in GOD and be present all the way through the ending of things we cherish. It is the satisfying scene my wife awaits for that others have given up on. It is the surprise beginnings that Mary, Mary, and the universe anxiously hope in, from the predictable death of Jesus that scattered his disciples. It is the beautiful spring brought on by a deadly winter. It is the fullness of love only realized when all else has dissipated.
To this end, this death, this dying then…
“May I be a constant and faithful reminder of your presence and love.”
Even if this end is final…or…is there more?!
Iki Taimi serves as lead pastor of the La Sierra University Church.
These reflections stand alone, but if you want to enjoy the prayers from May It Be So that they’re based on, please click here to request a copy of the book.