An excerpt from “Following Jesus” by N.T. Wright:
It is because of him that we know – we don’t just hope, we know – that God will wipe away all tears from all eyes. And in that knowledge we find ourselves to be Sunday people, called to live in a world of Fridays. In that knowledge we know ourselves to be Easter people, called to minister to a world full of Calvarys. In that knowledge we find that the hand that dries our tears passes the cloth to us, and bids us follow him, to go to dry one another’s tears. The Lamb calls us to follow him wherever he goes, into the dark places where tears blot out the sunlight, the places where tyrants pave the grass with concrete; and he bids us shine his morning light into the darkness, and share his ministry of wiping away tears. And as we worship, and adore, and follow the Lamb, we join, already, in the song of Revelation 5.11-14, the song that one day the trees and the mountains and the whales and waterfalls – the whole world, reborn on Easter morning – will all sing with us:
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain…
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honour and glory and blessing!
To him who sits on the throne and the Lamb
be blessing and honour and glory and power for ever and
ever, Amen.
3 responses to “An Easter Thought at Christmas Time”
How’d you ever hear of Tom Wright? He’s the Bishop of Durham (in England, I presume — or is it Ireland? Sorry, my geography’s terrible.) The Bishop of Georgia told me about him several weeks ago, but I’d heard nothing about him until I saw your post.
Another interesting thing about N.T. Wright is that he is a leader in what the universal church believes is one of the most left-wing representations of Christianity in history: the worldwide Anglican Communion. The U.S. branch of this church, of course, is the Episcopal Church. On close examination, one finds that most of these people are extremely broad-minded–to a fault–but despite that, the Episcopal Church remains the only denomination out there that actually permits total freedom of conscience. The others demand that you adhere to an unspoken creed. For further insight, see C.S. Lewis’s essay “The Inner Ring” — hard to find, but worth finding.
Hey Joe. Both Kim’s brother Craig and a good friend of mine named Rick Bennett have introduced me to N.T. Wright. I loved “Following Jesus,” and I’m looking forward to reading more by him.