One of the things for which I most want to thank and praise the Creator of the universe is His willingness not to leave us alone and hopeless, all to ourselves. And he does this despite who we are. If recent world events are any indication—not to mention the thousands upon thousands of recorded events of human history that are not so recent— it is soooo important that we not just be left here unsupervised. He could just leave us, but He doesn’t. His love for us compels Him to be faithful when there is nothing besides His own will that necessitates that He do so.
Equally important is that we not be left to our own devices when it comes to trying to make a real mess, better. Not only does He not leave us alone, but He is the source (the only source) of meaningful transformation of our world. This is what Easter is really all about. I am grateful for the eternal life with the Lord that comes to us because of the Resurrection, but as NT Wright is now so famous for pointing out (and before him those like Jürgen Moltmann), the Resurrection of Christ offers to humankind new life in an all-encompassing way. Resurrection brings the possibility of the overcoming of all destructive powers and everything that tends toward darkness and death. That means that the mess we have made of things has the possibility—through the impact of Christ on human lives—of getting better.
Of, course, things are not trending that way. It is inevitable that when humankind turns a blind eye to the Lord that we will escalate our degradation. But, because He does not leave us, and because in Resurrection there is power available for authentic transformation, and because this ability to bring about transformation is available to our efforts to change things, we are given the opportunity ourselves to have an impact.
That’s one of the things I love about our church right now. We are having an impact. We are not having all the impact we want to have, but we are having an impact. And it is all because God through the Resurrection empowers us with the ability to transform our world, through Him.
