<div dir="auto">Thank you, Arthur. This Easter reflection is particularly potent this year. Move toward the light, anytime we start feeling overwhelmed by the dark. You flashed this out well. Rosemary</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Mar 29, 2024, 1:14 PM Arthur Blomme via Sundaycommunity <<a href="mailto:sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca">sundaycommunity@lists.integralshift.ca</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
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<p>My reflection for this Easter.</p>
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<h1>“Death has lost its sting” - Embracing Resurrection and
Transcendence </h1>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">We gather this Easter in the shadow of a world fraught with
fear, where the drums of war and genocide beat loudly.
The specter of death looms over us as we blind ourselves
to the malevolence of the powers and principalities.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""><span> </span>Yet, amidst this
turmoil, we hold fast to the Apostle Paul’s profound
declaration: “Death has lost its sting,” a statement
that encapsulates transcendence as the essence of the
resurrection. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""><span> </span>The resurrection is the
act that transforms the narrative of death into a
narrative of life; from one of defeat, to one of
victory. It is not confined to an event in history but
is an ongoing reality that elevates us beyond the
limitation of our status quo perspective of reality. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">In times of conflict and uncertainty, the fear of death can be
a powerful tool in the hands of those who seek to
control and manipulate. It is a sting that pricks the
heart, sowing division and despair.<span> </span>We can observe in
our midst that people of good faith are polarized by
narratives promoting war and hate.<span> </span>As a friend has
said each side of the polarized political factions is
convinced that the “other side” is hurtling toward
fascism. <span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Our instinct for survival moves all of creation away from the
spectre of death.<span> </span>A
single celled organism shuts down its creative energies
to protect itself from the toxicity. Members of the
animal kingdom when </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">they p</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">erceive danger automatically focus on fight or flight. In the
absence of danger they grow and flourish in the land.<span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Humans on the other hand are semantic beings and we have to
contend with toxic meaning that drives us to a death of
spirit.<span> </span>If we
succumb to toxic meaning like fear, hate and
self-centeredness we engage in this move away behaviour
and our ability to create and love is dampened.<span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">We might say that we have two classes of motivation in
creation.<span> </span>We are
either motivated to move away from death or to move
toward growth and transcendence. A fear mindset<span> </span>causes us to move
away from death while a growth mindset motivates us to
transcend toward the fullness of life and creativity. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">The quote from the Apostle Paul speaks to a spiritual
overcoming of fear, particularly the fear of death. It
suggests that through faith in the resurrection,
believers can transcend the paralyzing effects of fear.
The quote implies that the ultimate fear—death—has been
conquered, and therefore, the things that typically
incite fear lose their power.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:normal;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">For the early Christians, this victory signifies a new reality
where believers transcend the fear of death,
anticipating the New Jerusalem descending from the
heavens or the mustard seed that is the Kingdom of God
in our midst.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">The
resurrection teaches us that life is more than what we
perceive. It invites us to look beyond the propaganda,
to question the narratives that drive us towards fear
and division, to instead seek truth, beauty, goodness
and unity of the human family.</span></p>
<div align="right"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Arthur
Blomme</span></div>
<div align="right"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">March
28th, 2024<br>
</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif""></span></div>
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