HEROD
What is this miracle of the daughter of Jairus?
FIRST NAZARENE
The daughter of Jairus was dead. He raised her from the dead.
HEROD
He raises the dead?
FIRST NAZARENE
Yea, sire, He raiseth the dead.
HEROD
I do not wish Him to do that. I forbid Him to do that. I allow no man to raise the dead. This Man must be found and told that I forbid Him to raise the dead. Where is this Man at present?
SECOND NAZARENE
He is in every place, my lord, but it is hard to find Him.
_______________________________________________________________________Contemporary Confusion; Present Confusion about Future Hope
-Heaven is important but it's not the end of the world
-Resurrection does not denote going to heaven when you die! Jesus' resurrection did not mean he died and went to heaven, it meant he was bodily resurrected and back
-the kingdom of heaven is not about a place where you go when you die
-God banished upstairs (out of the public square) so that we can run things downstairs
-"Going home to heaven" vs. Wilberforce & co. who believed that society had to be reformed so that it became thinkable to live in a Christian way.
-Evangelicalism in Britain gave up believing that it was possible to reform society at the same time they became more keen on heaven as the immediate destination rather than resurrection as the ultimate destination.
-The Sadducees were the conservatives who did not want any change in their world- they were the rich aristocratic class who liked the way they lived and thus denied the Pharisaic teaching of the resurrection
-It's nice to have a healer, but if somebody's raising the dead then the tyrant knows that his ultimate weapon is not his ultimate weapon
"The kingdom of heaven is not a place where God rules away from the present earth. It is the fact that God rules and the whole point of Jesus' ministry was that that rule was coming to birth on earth as in heaven, and that we should pray for its final coming. So that at the end of matthew's gospel, when Jesus says "all authority in heaven and on earth have been given to me", that needs working out, cashing through... because the mission of the church (Matt 28) follows from the fact the Jesus is already the Lord of earth as well as heaven. God forgive us that in the church we've often behaved as though he was basically the Lord in heaven, and that we through our present spirituality get in touch with that Lord in heaven in order that we might eventually go and be with him forever - which is precisely what the New Testament is written to say no to. In fact we have thereby colluded with various soft forms of (yes) Gnosticism. -- escapist theology"
When Earth's last picture is painted and the tubes are twisted and dried, When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic has died, We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it -- lie down for an aeon or two, Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall put us to work anew. And those that were good shall be happy; they shall sit in a golden chair; They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comets' hair. They shall find real saints to draw from -- Magdalene, Peter, and Paul; They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at all! And only The Master shall praise us, and only The Master shall blame; Andd no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame, But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star, Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as They are!
Beautiful stuff, totally non christian:
Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep,
He hath awaken'd from the dream of life;
'Tis we, who lost in stormy visions, keep
With phantoms an unprofitable strife,
And in mad trance, strike with our spirit's knife
Invulnerable nothings. We decay
Like corpses in a charnel; fear and gried
Do not stand at my grave and weep (lovely and beautiful stuff, simply non christian)
we are image bearers, death is an insult to
- Shelly (atheist), for Keats
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
-Mary Elizabeth Frye
Right idea of death:
Death be not proud, though some has called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but they pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
Subtly wrong hymns
Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.
Charles Wesley 1747, Love divine, all loves excelling
Come near and bless us when we wake,
ere through the world our way we take,
till in the ocean of thy love
we lose ourselves in heaven above. (Buddhist idea of being a drop in the ocean that gets lost?)
- John Keble 1820, Sun of my soul, thou Savior dear
Hold now you Word before my closing eyes.
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee;
in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
- Henry F. Lyte 1847, Abide with me
Good hymns
The golden evening brightens in the west;
soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
the saints triumphant rise in bright array;
the King of glory passes on his way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
From earth's wide bounds, from ocean's farthest coast,
through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
and singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
- William W. How 1864, For all the saints
