Death, Resurrection and Aliens

Thursday, April 20, 2006 -- Thursday in Easter Week

Note: It was pointed out to me yesterday that I've been reading a week ahead. I've been doing the readings for the "Week of 2 Easter" rather than "Easter Week." I've got the correct readings today.

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 959)
Psalms 97, 99 (morning) // 115 (afternoon)
Exodus 12:40-51
1 Corinthians 15:(29)30-41
Matthew 28:1-16

"I die every day!" says Paul. His spiritual practice of daily death allowed him the courage and hope to face opponents he called "wild animals" in Ephesus. My Christian spirituality professor in seminary used to say his best days are those when he dies before 6 a.m. It was his practice to sit in contemplative prayer each morning. He opened with this prayer:

In your hands we rest
In the cup of whose hands sailed an ark
Rudderless, without mast.

In your hands we rest
Who was to make of the aimless wandering of the Ark
A new beginning for the world.

In your hands we rest
Ready and content this day. Amen.

On those mornings when he let go of everything including any attachment to his own self and life, he found that when he died or disappeared, God fills the all. That is the common experience of all who contemplate. It is liberating.
_________

Paul also gets into an argument about resurrection today. Someone has asked "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" The questions seem to anger Paul. He's content with knowing that we shall be raised with Christ. His own vision of Jesus on the Damascus Road was a spiritual vision. So Paul insists that, like seeds, we will die to the perishable flesh and rise imperishable in the Spirit. Beyond that, who knows?
_________

A couple of thoughts about the Exodus reading, giving future instruction for the eating of the passover ritual meal. In Exodus, anyone who eats the passover must be circumcised. (That requirement is not mentioned in Numbers 9.) "But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it after he has been circumcised; no bound or hired servant may eat of it."

How troubling this passage is. It was for freedom that the Hebrews cried to God and were delivered from their slavery in Egypt through the Lord's passover. As the prophets noted in future generations, it is one thing to take someone out of Egypt, it is another to take Egypt out of the person. What a lesson in human failure to note that after being liberated from slavery in Egypt, Israel made provision for the practice of slavery in their own land. How often have the formerly oppressed become oppressors. How often has it happened in our own lives?

But there is a light in this passage. Although (in Exodus) the uncircumcised person is not invited to the passover feast, nevertheless "there shall be one law for the native and for the alien who resides among you." The same statute is repeated in Numbers (without the uncircumcised exception). The same "one law" theme shows up elsewhere.

There is strong Biblical tradition of hospitality and equality toward aliens residing among the people. It is an important tradition of compassion. We see Jesus behaving with equanimity toward aliens and foreigners, sharing his table and his ministry with them as with those of his own religion and nation.

At a time when our nation is discussing our attitudes toward the aliens who reside among us, these Biblical traditions of hospitality, equality and respect seem like important principles for our discussion.