1421AF052314 – Big Changes Ahead
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1 Peter 3:18 –For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit … New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
E pili mau na pomaika‘i ia ‘oe a me ke akua ho’omaika’i ‘oe, ?omea! (May blessing always be with you and may God bless you, Beloved!)
About two weeks ago a friend from church passed away after a long bout with pulmonary fibrosis – basically scarred lung tissue that got progressively worse, is untreatable, irreversible, and uniformly fatal. He and his wife were older than we are; she was a Eucharistic Minister for a while, but Parkinson-like tremors made that ministry difficult for her. Both were from Berlin; we enjoyed greeting one another bilingually – although my German never got beyond a few touristy phrases over the years. A couple of years ago, I started wearing a dress-shirt and tie to church. Throughout my professional career I usually dressed as “The Business.” It was not so much dress for success as it was wearing a business uniform. Sometimes I wore wingtips, power ties, and Arrow shirts. Other times I wore Acme boots, bolo ties, and “cowboy” shirts. Here in Kapa?a, whenever I went to say good morning before church got started, he’d always say, “Now I know it’s Sunday.” He thought people should dress up a little better than they did when going to the beach, or to work. You might surmise that not many men wear a dress-shirt and tie here; you’d be right. So why do it?
I chose that uniform, that costume, to emphasize that being where we were – at Mass – was different from being at work, or going out to eat. Here, there is a “usual” uniform and that was always Aloha Wear. Some folks come in shorts and T-shirts – a bit too casual for this conservative old man. Most members dressed nicely as befitting the dignity of the house of God. Our Pastors’ “uniforms” include layers of vestments that make their appearance very different from the rest of us. It’s not just Catholics that have clergy wearing vestments, of course, but ours are very distinctive and in tropical weather, pretty uncomfortable. They still do it though – no shortcuts either. I wanted to be in solidarity with them, so I chose a uniform that was decidedly different from what I usually wear around town. My friend appreciated that idea of solidarity; he had a couple of reasons. The first was that he had been brought up with the idea that it was sort of a Rule that you had to dress up for church. Me, too. The second was that we had another reason for solidarity: I, too, have lungs full of scar tissue from years of asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, and even a bout with histoplasmosis. My internal medicine doc and my pulmonologist have not formally labeled me with pulmonary fibrosis; I get the COPD label for now.
Another recent passing also got my attention – the wife of a colleague in Indian Health Service who suffered – really suffered – with cancer. He’s also been hit with The Big C and they were in and out of remission several times over the years. We’ve had them in the Share-a-Prayer lists often. Then – as all this was going on – there was also Crucita’s stretch with shingles. She’s 90% better now, but still, it was hard to see her suffering that pain! Taking all of this together, you might also guess that the whole idea of mortality has gotten increased attention in my musings. When I read this short passage from this coming Sunday’s readings, it just popped out like a neon sign. What happens in the flesh is one thing; what happens in the spirit is quite another, and that is by design – not “Intelligent Design” – but by Divine Design. And it’s hard to imagine what happens when death in the flesh becomes life in the spirit.
We do try to imagine it though. Angels wearing long white robes play harps while riding clouds. St. Peter at the Gate. Streets of gold, meeting our friends and relatives and all the holy men and women who preceded us. We imagine these loved ones as they appeared in the flesh. We think of them walking around in beautiful gardens conversing amiably about anything and everything. They greet and embrace one another even though they have no bodies.
That’s right. They are spirits. They do not have a resurrection body yet. So what do spirits look like and can they really distinguish the differences between this man and that woman? No matter what you think, the answer is: We can only guess until we see it ourselves. Contemplating the gaining of that knowledge is wonderful! Actually gaining it seems to terrify most of us because it is something you learn only after your body dies. The price of admission to the afterlife is quite simply everything you’ve got because you can’t take it with you. We all know that. We all know life in Heaven is … well, heavenly. But we don’t want to get there (most of us anyway) any sooner than we have to … until our number is up. But what will that be like?
As I prepared for this post over the past week, I was led to a passage about the resurrection body. It’s clear that until that Day of Resurrection, God has us scheduled for Life in The Spirit. I can’t tell you what that’s like; I haven’t been there yet, although I’ve been to the edge of the Light at the end of the tunnel a few times. I’m going to close with that passage. I’m pasting it here from Bible Gateway. Before I go, though, I want to ask you to pray with me for the dying friends we know, that God will give them Peace as they move resolutely toward death. Pray also for families shattered by poverty, or drugs, or war, or even something as simple as bad judgment. And pray for your clergy! Thank God for them and ask God to strengthen them. The Ruler of This World is making hell on earth for billions of people. Be part of the shield that deflects his fiery arrows!
The Resurrection Body – 1 Corinthians 15:35-56
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.
42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is[a] from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will[b] also bear the image of the man of heaven.
50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters,[c] is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die,[d] but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
