Hope - in the midst of the pain
As I write this, the news of the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, that iconic place of worship in Paris, is breaking. The fact that it is the first day of Holy Week is not lost on me. Irony has never been so stark in its fulfilment.
My heart went out to the people of Paris. The first church I served in Calgary, burned. I know firsthand the deep loss and bewilderment that comes from a fire that takes away the place you worship and find healing and peace.
The fact that is has happened to a bastion of art, architecture, beauty, culture, centuries of history and worship, a symbol of what the city of Paris embodies, exponentially deepens the loss.
As the images of the spire falling and the smoke rising are seared into my mind; I am reminded of the searing loss that the disciples faced two thousand years ago, not from the loss of a building but from the loss of a friend, teacher and brother.
The forced kangaroo court trial, the most brutal of executions, the shame of their cowardice in the face of trial and hardship, all burned the foundations of their faith. They were lost, they were in hiding, their lives, their hopes for the future, what they thought they understood about God had all been hung on a cross and put to death.
Many of us, this Holy Week and Easter season can relate to the disciples 2,000 years ago and to the people of Paris this past week. Our lives seem to be burning around us, the dreams we had built up for the future seem to be falling down around us, the relationships we thought were as solid as a rock are turning out to be a pit of sinking sand that is slowly sucking the hope from us.
The bills are piling up, the health issues are changing our life, from the pain or the uncertainty or any one of a thousand different ways that life can be just exhausting. We look around for hope, we search this Holy Week for meaning but we are met with smoke and fire.
Then we see the donuts in Tim Hortons with Easter eggs on them, we walk into our local Walmart and find the front of the store packed with smiling bunnies and colourful Easter eggs begging to be taken home, as if those things can bring us happiness and meaning. We start to question the meaning of Easter. Can there really be hope in the midst of pain, sorrow, devastating loss, death?
But wait, what is that I hear on CNN? Hundreds of voices all rising together, all praising God in the midst of the fire, in the midst of the devastation, Hope. In the midst of the pain, Hope. The disciples experienced it on Easter morning when they ran to the tomb to find that Jesus was not there, they experienced Hope. They experienced Hope when they saw him in the upper room, when they ate with him on the Sea of Galilee. They continued to experience it throughout their lives as they saw God move in the midst of the most difficult circumstances, where they saw the message of the cross of Christ and the gospel change lives and bring hope where there was no hope.
In life where there seems to be so many reasons to lose hope, shootings in B.C., elections that seem to divide, spew hate and fear, the message of Easter needs to be heard.
The message of Hope that there is more to life than the smoke and fire of things that do not last. There is life and life more abundantly and eternal than we could ever imagine.
Notre Dame cathedral will be rebuilt one day. People will walk in its stone halls and stained glass illuminated chambers.
It will rise again. Jesus rose again, so that Hope could be ours today and every day.
That is the promise of Easter, that in the midst of the fire and smoke we can have life, through Christ, and Hope in every situation. So when in Tim’s grab that Easter themed donut and live in Hope.