In my Journal in November 2018, I wrote the following:
“The church is facing Death … and fighting for its life. Perhaps it needs to learn the secret of resurrection. Resurrection always requires Death and a death that is faced before resurrection can be experienced.
Reflecting on the Old and New Testaments
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:18–20
“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins-and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” 2
Mark 2:21-2
Even new wineskins get old and stiff.
But, in writing this (as in all my writing) I know that I am missing the mark; seeing (if indeed I am) only in part. Nevertheless, I write in the hope that as I persevere, my errors will become clearer and so will my true seeing.”
To Live we must Learn to Die
The key to resurrection and eternal life is dying. Death always comes first. What might this mean for the church, and for me? Only Enoch bypassed this, and then perhaps even he did not bypass death. Similarly, in many ways Elijah dies on his walk to the holy mountain. The great man of Carmel died when he fled in fear. I wonder what it was like for him in the time after this, before he was taken up? He still had work to do. When did the Lord reveal to him what his end would be?
Still for all humanity the reality remains that the way to resurrection lies through dying. This is true personally and also archetypically. There is another side to the coin; we are all dead to start with, and life is God’s gift to dead people. But, from our perspective, what we are living must die for this new life to grow.”
The Gift of Hindsight
When I wrote that, I knew that I was contemplating retirement, but I could not have foreseen the effect of the global pandemic of Coronavirus on the whole situation. It has certainly made the challenges that I saw then, sharper, and more imminent. It has also changed them in ways that I have yet to consider.
It is particularly interesting that in the world as a whole, as well as in the church, there is an increasing struggle between two seemingly opposite demands:
- A call and yearning to get back to normal, and
- A call and yearning not to lose the opportunities for change that this crisis has offered
Given what I was thinking about in 2018, I am more drawn to the latter option. The need for change has certainly been highlighted, as many have observed. But the costs, as always, are underestimated. Real transformation – Resurrection – requires real death’ and the death always comes before the resurrection.
Thinking Again
Amongst all the other things that I am giving attention to at the moment, this has to be a key one. However, I know that I have changed – the pressure of being in active ministry has been released – so, I need to give time too reflect again; reviewing and renewing here as in everything.