Sunday, March 25, 2012

After the Storm

Mumford and Sons - "After the Storm"

Today, in the Sunday scripture readings, we experience Lazarus raised from the dead. This morning I was doing some reading for a paper that I am writing on Henry Giroux and Critical Pedagogy (a quick description - Critical Pedagogy is used in education and beyond...and is focused on emancipation and transformation), while reading my thoughts kept turning to the realities of our world, and again the healing love we need. It is so easy to see the things that are dying, or dead, if we take time and pay attention. It is not so easy to see the things that have the potential for resurrection. 

It is easy for me to critique the "establishment" and the breaking down of institutions. However, I have also experienced those who reminisce about the glory days as if something died and will never be restored. I do not want to put on the lens of illusion that offers the romantic view of the past. I know that things in my lifetime have not been easy and the changes have been hard. There are things in all of our lives that have died (both individually and globally). Sometimes these things need to be let-go. And, sometimes there is a need for resurrection. Jesus knew that it was right to raise Lazarus from the dead.  As I continue to work with the with transformation and emancipation I hope to know when it is time to raise-up that which is needed, and let die those things that will make great fertilizer. Sometimes it seems like a daunting task and impossible to attain. For me it is easier to let a fear and resentment live, rather than raise up hope and joy...as if these two things have been swallowed by the abyss. The three verses that come to me are from "After the Storm." Unfortunately, tonight the blog is an adventure in hodgepodge, a stream of consciousness moment possibly: 

Night has always pushed up day
You must know life to see decay
But I won't rot, I won't rot
Not this mind and not this heart,
I won't rot

And I took you by the hand
And we stood tall,
And remembered our own land,
What we lived for.

And there will come a time,
you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart,
but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see
what you find there,
With grace in your heart
and flowers in your hair.

No comments:

Post a Comment