From Lent To Easter
It is often my experience that people think of the Christian doctrine of the Resurrection as something akin to magic or re-incarnation; i.e., we come back again to life, after death, either as a human, or, if you are a follower of one of the East Asian religions, maybe even another creature. In my ministry as a pastoral psychotherapist I think I have experienced, through the journeys that I have been invited to travel by clients, what resurrection is. I am guided by two stories from the Gospels as I share these thoughts with you.
One of the stories is about the raising of Lazarus from the Dead, a story of the Resurrection coming in the middle of the Lenten season. I am also thinking of the story of Thomas, a Gospel story for the first Sunday after Easter, in which Thomas is confronted with the experience that all of life is different. Death is no longer the final answer: Life is! Taking the two stories together I believe that they show us something about the Christian Doctrine of the Resurrection, which has as profound and wonderful application to daily living.
It seems that the raising of Lazarus from the dead has something to say about the experience of Resurrection, New Life, even in the midst of the dark time, of Lent, of Michigan low light winter. The implication of Thomas’s expression of doubt comes at a time when members of the Christian community tell him that death is not the final answer; after Crucifixion comes Resurrection. It seems that God’s promise of new life, the ultimate promise, is also a promise for our daily lives. Things do not have to stay the same. Even or if something dies there is some form of new life to come.
The life journeys, which bring people to the pastoral psychotherapy consulting room, have much to say about the need for something in a person or couple or family’s life to change. Change means, by its nature and definition, that something will be different which means that the current way in its exact form will die. This is what gives me the hope and faith to be a pastoral psychotherapist. Out of this myriad number of problems, confusions, issues, something new can happen. The assurance is for something new; the promise is not for us to know or be in control, completely, of what that is.
The Christian image of the Cross is a powerful one. While it signifies an historical event it exemplifies the heart and focus of care for the person. In each person there is a place of crucifixion, of being pulled apart, of pain and of hurt. It may be the relationship that has ended, or the death, which has occurred, or the promise of a new job, which did not come to fruition. The Cross does not represent the kind of suffering which stems from self pity, or the manipulation of another. But the Cross can still represent something gone awry which has lead to the attitude of self pity or a behavior pattern exemplified by manipulation. Similarly the notion of new life as the Christian understanding of Resurrection is applied is not about life at the expense of another or false joy in the midst of another’s pain. How often a hollow sense of happiness leads one to seek some form of pastoral care.
The Cross looms large around the Lazarus story, i.e., the nature of Lent is the journey to the Cross or the time in Life’s journey when all seems to be going downhill. To be raised from the dead, so to speak, in that context, is truly a powerful experience. To have the Cross transformed ultimately into Resurrection being, so to speak, a new way of life available to all is the background for the Thomas story. Change and hope come not just in bleakness or out of bleakness and despair but as a reality each and every step of the way. When I am invited on a pastoral journey with clients many feel Lenten oriented, or overcome by “Cross” like experiences; they cannot conceive of such a hope that new life is only at the downtime. When they see pain transformed into relief, or new life emerge from old patterns and styles it is as if the pain exhibited by Jesus in that confrontation with Thomas has transformed life into newness. It has taken over and taken away Lent; it is the new way. Their own tomb was opened, and the stone was rolled away and with joy and strength they start a new journey.
Dr. Paul Melrose
