I want a pet dragon!

Growing up, one of my favorite movies was The Neverending Story. I wanted to be Atreyu. I wanted to fly on the back of Falkor. I loved the movie because of its excitement and adventure along with its creative and unique characters. In this movie the parallel fantasy world is being destroyed by the Nothing, which represents people’s lack of imagination in the real world.

I also wanted to be Bastian the one reading The Neverending Story in the attic. Bastian is the nerd, the outcast, and is rejected by his peers. Why would I want to be him? Because he gets to be the hero! He’s the one who finally gives into his imagination and in doing so saves the parallel fantasy universe. Plus, he rides Falkor in the end!

I recently watched How to Train Your Dragon. After leaving the theater I of course wanted to get my own dragon. I mean riding on the back of a dragon – seriously just as cool as riding on Falkor… if not cooler because the dragon is a scary beast. Oh, wait… that’s the point. The scary beast doesn’t turn out to be so scary. And yet again I left the theater wanting to be Hiccup. Hiccup is the nerd, the outcast, and is rejected by his peers. Why would I want to be him? Because he gets to be the hero! He’s the one who dared to do the unthinkable. He befriended a beast and in the end saves both the dragons and his people.

In movies we tend to root for the underdog. Yet, we don’t do this in the real world.

We may not root for the underdog – but God does. After all God called Abraham in his old age, Moses even with a speech impediment, Jeremiah even though he was young, Paul who was the leading persecutor of Christians, and let’s not forget the mother of Jesus, Mary, a teenager who wasn’t even close to being a queen.

Then there were all the times that Jesus rooted for the underdog. The Samaritan woman at the well who was clearly not a Jew and I’m sorry to say a bit smutty. He transformed fishermen into fishers of people. He ate with Zacchaeus a short sinner and tax collector. He gave a second chance to a woman guilty of adultery. He even dared to touch a leper.

Maybe we have a lack of imagination as to who is worthy. Maybe we need to dare to do the unthinkable.

Onto Galilee

This week I would like to share with everyone the devotion I read at our council this past week. It is one that speaks too many at this moment. I have brought it up on the phone a number of times this week. Therefore, I feel called to share it here. I did not write this nor do I know who did – but thanks be to God for their message of Christ resurrected!

Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The shouts of joy echo in our churches as we celebrate this season of resurrection and new life in Christ.

It might be tempting for us to gather around the empty tomb, amazed at what has happened. We might also be tempted to focus on the signs of resurrection in our own lives or in the life of our congregation and to think that is what Easter is all about. The empty tomb, the announcement of resurrection and the signs of new life are only part of the message of Easter.

The rest of the message moves us into the future. The angel at the tomb said the risen Christ is going ahead to Galilee (Matthew 28: 7b). Following Christ does not end at the empty tomb. Following Christ always takes us on to another place, to where we are not yet, to some “Galilee” where Christ goes before us.

To live the resurrection is to be called to movement, to change, to transformation – as individuals and as congregations. Sometimes it can be frightening to leave behind the places where we have already seen signs of resurrection. It can be scary to step out into the unknown, into ventures of which we cannot see the ending, as one prayer puts it.

But this is not just change for the sake of change because we are bored or want something new. Our trip to “Galilee” is for the sake of the world, for the sake of those who still need to know Christ’s resurrected life.

How can we dare to do this? Because Christ is already there. The one who has gone ahead of us into the tomb and triumphed now goes before us into “Galilee” and promises to meet us there.

Let us then not hang around the empty tomb, but let us go on to “Galilee” where we can expect to find the risen Christ in the most unexpected places.

AMEN!!

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions are few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the enemy, pander at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till he comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till he stops me. And when he comes for his own, he will have no problem recognizing me... my banner will be clear.

(From a note found in the office of a young pastor in Zimbabwe, Africa, after he was killed for his faith.) Quoted in The Signature of Jesus by Brennan Manning

Lent is over. Our journey through the wilderness – to the cross – led us to a place where we can roll away the stone and let light into the dark tomb. Light penetrates into a place where we assume there is death – only to find life. That is why the pastor above wrote powerful words in such a dismal time. The passion that evoked the words of this pastor is something I wish we could all feel on Easter morning.

So that our words change, our thoughts change, and our actions change. Our whole being is changed in Christ – our journey doesn’t end – instead, it begins. The light of the resurrection cannot be extinguished. God’s love for us cannot be abolished. That is a banner we can all hold high!