Practice Resurrection
Brian Tolle 

We live in an interesting time. With the constant noise and shouting of 24-hour news, left vs. right, nation vs. nation - it's sometimes hard to see through the mist or hear through the drumming noise of our age. I have a question. Do we ever set aside time to actually rest in the peace and silence of Jesus? I mean do we really believe that we are new creations? I find that when I sit in silence, or in prayer - I have a hunger in my soul to actually live as if the Kingdom of God is present. On a deeper level, I desire to live this every moment I am awake.

In many Christian circles there is popular talk about how we need to "recover the morality of God in our American society and school systems". But do we? Are we called to push and voice our opinions to conform to the culture wars of our age? I would say, no. In fact, I believe that is just adding one more voice to the chorus of white noise. And it's not helpful. We are called to be followers who do not conform to the patterns of this world but are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).

What does it mean to have your mind renewed? It means to have the mind of Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:16). When we turn our hearts to Jesus, we are literally made new. It's like a wardrobe change (Galatians 3:27). And the call of the faithful is to actually start living that into being - now! Do we actually believe this can happen? Or that it should happen? I believe this an absolute - yes!

The gospel spreads not through force, but through fascination. Our lives should cause people to turn their heads sideways and ask, "why"? The moment we start joining the white noise of the culture wars and the war on Christianity or on God or whatever, we begin looking like everyone else yelling and defending their cause - we just slap a Jesus sticker on our cause. But Jesus didn't do that. Jesus was concerned about loving his enemies, blessing those who were ignored, eating and drinking with the outcasts and talking about a future. A future he called the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom we are invited to join and be a part of right now. And he promised that the Kingdom of God is at hand - repent and believe the Good News! (Mark 1:15).

The biblical prophets were able to see this. They may not have fully understood it, they were dreamers. They were artists. They were poets. The prophets were able to contemplate the holy "what if". Ask yourself this question, "what if the world looked differently. What would it look like if God were actually in charge?" The prophets of the past and the future invite us into this holy imagination. John Lennon famously wrote about this in his song, Imagine. Isaiah of the Old Testament captures it best. Isaiah dreams of a future where violence is non-existent and there is an embrace between neighbors. He dreams of a future of peace that have caused followers of God to dream of a better world. Another world is possible. One of the most beautiful sections of the Bible is captured in (Isaiah 40-66). It's beautiful. This is the beautiful portrait of a future hope. It is the prophetic future realized in Jesus that we are to believe in, belong to, and move toward. It is the poetry from that distant land where the lion lays down with the lamb and weapons of war are fashioned into farm tools. Why? Because we are new creations.

Our first priority as the Church is not to make all these things happen in the world through political action, but to be a prophetic voice and witness to the hope of a world that is being restored by Jesus. Every action we take—political or whatever—must be birthed from our faithful witness and obedience to Jesus. In the midst of a hateful, violent, political and idolatrous world, the Church is to be known for love, peace and holiness. To be a faithful Church, the Church must be distinguished by holiness. Not holiness as an advanced sense of religious rules, but holiness as otherness or set apart—we are to be other to the values of this present darkness.

To be holy, in the Christian sense, is not to be based upon a specific set of rules and moral codes, but based upon the fact that we are literally re-born. Born again. We are a part of a new family. We are the children of God. We are stardust. We belong to the Kingdom of God. If we approach holiness as a culture war issue, we are going to get it wrong. And even if we are not wrong in our judgment, we are likely to be judgmental about it—ugly, self-righteous, and condescending. Holiness is not that. Holiness is not religion. Holiness is not legalism. Holiness is not strict rule-keeping. Holiness is otherness. Holiness is prophetic discomfort. Holiness is the beauty that comes from belonging to the restored future. Holiness is a preview of the world to come. Holiness is a picture of the beauty that is to be. To live now according to the beauty that shall be because the future belongs to God, is what the poetic Psalm means when the author calls upon us to, “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” (Psalm 96:9) We are holy when we are other. We are holy when we begin to live as a resurrected and restored people within creation. We are holy when we look, act and think like Jesus. The resurrected Jesus. Practice resurrection.


 (The artwork is Vancouver by Osnat)