How do you keep the music playing?
How do you make it last?
How do you keep the song from fading too fast?
by Michel Legrand, with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. –-1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
We are approaching the very end of Lent; that mysterious transition from darkness to light, from grief to joy. At this special time it is useful to reflect that Lent is not only a time of grief. Easter is not simply a time of joy. We do not grieve as those who have no hope. Lent should be a time of focus, of reflection, but we should never abandon our joy. We know how the story ends. We are always at the manger, at the river, in the courts of the temple, entering Jerusalem, and on the cross, all at the same time. We are people who live with a view from within the tomb in all its darkness and from the garden with light streaming into the empty grave. Easter joy is the joy of the realist. Easter joy always has some of the shadow of the cross. Jesus came among us, lived and died, and has risen in the hearts of the faithful. This mysterious kingdom has come once and for all but is still not yet and always arriving. All at once, all the time, alpha and omega, or as a philosopher once said, “a ball of timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly stuff.”
This past week we have seen many stories and reflections on Indiana and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The law was proposed as an effort to protect businesses from intrusion upon religious freedom by other ordinances. It may be possible to imagine a situation where this would be needed but I find it hard to do so. A religious institution can (although it seems hard to imagine why) discriminate on the basis of sexual or gender identity or preference. If you want to say something is immoral you can do so. But when you are a business operating in the public sphere you may not discriminate and I believe that we do not want to create exceptions to that standard. What happened in Indiana was clear. This act was a kind of consolation prize to the extreme religious right who are losing the battle on marriage at every turn.
The proponents of the act were on record as having an anti-lgbtq agenda. One striking outcome is the not the swift reaction of lgbtq people and their allies, religious people of goodwill, and local and national political leaders. We expect that. But rather, as one commentator remarked, it is striking to see how far the mainstream has shifted on the lgbtq issues and has left the extreme religious right behind. The Indiana legislature has already acted to revise the language of the law to grant further protection for lgbtq people than existed before the act was first put in place.
My point? It’s a reflection on joy and grief. We do not grieve as those who have no hope but we also do not rejoice as those who live in the fullness of the kingdom. I believe that the Gospel is a word of freedom in a world that all too much loves chains. I believe that every time we break the chains open someone is forging a new set. We have to keep the music playing. We must not allow the song to fade. There will be moments that seem like the tomb will not let us escape. We are not responsible for all the work but we have to keep alert, look for the light, keep pushing. Leonard Cohen wrote, “There is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light get in.” We have to be the crack that lets the light get in. We must not allow the song to fade.
Rev. Fred 4/3/2015
