It’s Not Possible

DAILY READING

Psalm 93
Mark 16:19-20

Today’s writing time has been filled with distractions and at the same time, the interruptions have been incredibly on point. 

• A dear friend is in the process of dying and my mind is so full of ‘NO’. “Where are you going?  How can I find you? Will I see you again? What do I do with all this love welling up in me…threatening to drown me?” 
• Many calls and texts concerned with ‘that person’ in our family who insists on ‘throwing his life away’ [according to the family’s standards] have punctuated the morning. 
• It’s dark and rainy.  My twelve-year-old dog aches and is breathing heavily. She won’t be around much longer. I sense her suffering. 
• My old eyes quarrel with me in the dim light.

Mark 16 is the story of Jesus’ empty tomb and his appearances to people after his crucifixion and death.  Somehow, he is alive!  He has been seen! He has spoken and taken food and taught and comforted…doing in resurrection what had not been thought possible!

On an Easter Sunday morning I listened to a sermon that suggested we are living in a world that has lost its sense of enchantment and mysticism.  Today the impossible is simply impossible.  We must be able to explain everything. And yet, on Easter we gather, filling the sanctuary and the chapel, to remember and to celebrate the resurrected Jesus…the visible, touchable, present, and interacting son of God.  

And what does that have to do with a dark rainy day…Well, it has to do with comforting my dying friend’s wife [also a good friend]; loving the prodigal child; treating my sorrow and fear with compassion…rubbing my old dog and serving Frosty Paws for dinner.  It means gratitude for the light I can see.

Jesus says get out there and tell everyone the Good News. Tell the story far and wide. Tell it in quiet, human, everyday places. But more than tell it, live the story. Show people how resurrection can be lived each and every day.  Because Christ is incarnate, alive in us. Is that possible?  

QUESTIONS FOR THE FIELD

• When and how have you experienced the presence of the risen Christ? 
• When have you seen him in others?

FAMILY FIELD TALK

• Talk about the ways family members have experienced Christ.  When have these experiences gone ‘without explanation’? 

PRAYER GUIDE

Spirit of the living God,
Fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the living God,
Fall afresh on me.
Break me, melt me,
Mold me, fill me,
Spirit of the living God,
Fall afresh on me.

WRITE FOR THE FIELD GUIDE

Are you inspired by the Daily Field Guide devotions each week? You can inspire others in the congregation with your reflections on God’s word by becoming a Field Guide author! Contact Jason Alteri at jalteri@bumc.net to learn more.