The Apostles' Creed has long been one of the key statements defining what Christians believe. Part of the creed says that we believe Jesus "suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell." The horror of betrayal, abandonment, torture, and death detailed in the Gospels are summed up in those few terse words: Crucified, dead and buried.
Jesus was defeated. His teaching was condemned, his followers disbanded, and the hopes he had aroused in the poor and oppressed were dashed. The dream of a more compassionate, loving, peaceful world was shattered.
But that wasn't the end of the story. The Apostles' Creed goes on to proclaim: "The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty." This is the great hope we celebrate at Easter: resurrection!
The forces of evil had unleashed all their power trying to extinguish the "Light of the World," and could not do it! What was crucified, dead and buried comes alive again, more powerful than ever. It rekindles the hopes of broken hearts, and exposes those powers of evil for the tawdry, petty, pathetic things they really are.
As we approach this Lenten Season, there is a lot of anxiety in our land. We are a broken society; a broken people. Dark forces have driven us apart, using our fears to divide us into warring tribes. It seems that our gentler, kinder impulses that Abraham Lincoln referred to as the "better angels of our nature" have been discredited. A lot of people feel their hopes for a peaceful, more compassionate world have been "crucified, died and buried."
But remember, "it is always darkest just before the dawn." It was very dark when Jesus was laid in his tomb, but that was not the end of the story. And while it may seem very dark for many of us right now, that is not the end of our story either! The resurrection power of God's love can work in our hearts and minds bringing new life to our hopes and dreams.
My prayer this Lenten Season, is that we will not give up or give in to the forces of darkness. I pray that we will keep our hearts open to the life-giving power of God's love that wants to fill us and use us to speak words of hope into the darkness.
May God give us all the strength and courage we need to keep shining our light; to keep being the salt of the earth; to keep our eyes on the prize, and our feet moving forward on the path of peace.
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