Easter Reflections: My Resurrection

When I was at Harvard, I asked a Catholic friend of mine what the resurrection of Jesus Christ meant to him. He replied without hestitation, "My resurrection." He was referring to his spiritual rebirth as a Christian, which the apostle Paul associates with Christ's resurrection in Romans 6.

"Can man be saved, Mr. Heep?," Mr. Leeds asks Cleveland Heep in M. Night Shamaylan's Lady in the Water. What he meant was "Can a person ever have a new beginning?" Cleveland Heep was a surgeon who had lost his wife and children to a murderer, and he coped with his loss by hiding out in an apartment complex, doing his job as an apartment maintenance man. He hadn't moved past his pain! Could he have a fresh start, a new beginning?

Ironically, Mr. Leeds himself was probably coping with some sort of pain. The actor who plays him, Bill Irwin, says so much in an interview on the DVD. Plus, Mr. Leeds tells Cleveland, "You don't want to end up like me." "Like me" means sitting in front of the TV all day and not really interacting with anyone, as Mr. Leeds does. Mr. Leeds wanted Cleveland to have a fresh start because he recognized the negative impact of not doing so, but he did not believe that a new beginning was possible for him (Mr. Leeds). Later in the movie, Mr. Leeds doesn't manifest much faith, for he says that he wanted there to be more than this horrible world, but he realized that sooner or later he had to face reality. But he goes back on his doubt when he urges Mr. Heep to at least try to heal the water narf Story--to undertake his role as "Healer" in the drama that the apartment complex is experiencing. So the movie is not just about Cleveland Heep's new beginning, but Mr. Leeds' as well.

On Christmas, I read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I talked with my therapist about it, and I asked him how Scrooge (or anyone, for that matter) could change. Scrooge had a dream that altered his perspective of himself and life, but what would keep him from returning to his greed, selfishness, and bitterness? My therapist responded that we can easily relapse to where we were, but that's why we need to set certain things in place to keep that from happening. Change takes diligence, in short! For me, that means greeting people by name and introducing myself to at least one person at the meetings that I attend. I can easily become lazy on that, but, as I said, change requires diligence.

That may have been the point of the Easter sermon that I heard this morning. The priest referred to I Corinthians 5, which exhorts the Corinthian Christians to purge out the old leaven of malice and wickedness so they can become a new lump, celebrating the festival with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The priest remarked that being a Christian (actually, he said "Catholic") is a lot of work, which is why it is a lifelong process!

Some may say that the Christian life is not a matter of working hard, however. One of my relatives likes Jimmy Swaggart, who preaches that faith in the cross is the only path to spiritual victory. The way Swaggart tells it, trusting in Jesus will lead us to the point where we don't even want to sin, negating the need for intense struggle. I'm not sure if the Christian life is meant to be a passive process, but I think that faith in a God who loves me is important to me becoming a new person. I have to trust that life is God's way of making me better, meaning that God is on my side, not condemning me. So I have a role in my spiritual renewal, and God has a role. It's a cooperative process!

My mind wanders to a post that I wrote in response to Ken Brown: Jack, Sawyer, and Selflessness. Ken was contrasting two Lost characters: Jack and Sawyer. Jack started out as a selfless leader and became a selfish jerk. And Sawyer began as a selfish jerk and evolved into a selfless leader. For Ken, the lesson was that each one of us can have a new beginning by making selfless decisions. My point in my post, however, was that things are not always that easy, since we can fall into funks that are hard to climb out of.

But perhaps Ken has a point. Maybe I can have a new beginning each day, as I choose to make good decisions and not bad ones. I can set my mind on the bitterness of my past and present, or I can think thoughts of faith, hope, and love. I can greet people by name, or pray for people, or do something for somebody else. But, again, this takes discipline! There have been times when I have set spiritual goals, only to violate them and give up! That may be why I need some sort of hope and inspiration, which is what religion claims to provide.