{"id":553,"date":"2018-03-31T06:59:08","date_gmt":"2018-03-31T06:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/divergence.blog\/?p=553"},"modified":"2018-03-31T06:59:08","modified_gmt":"2018-03-31T06:59:08","slug":"the-last-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/03\/31\/the-last-word\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last Word"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

As I write, it is Good Friday, the year of our Lord, 2018, and tomorrow will be the harrowing of hell and then Sunday will come.\u00a0 Christians will greet each other with, \u201cHe is risen,\u201d and receive the response, \u201cHe is risen indeed.\u201d\u00a0 We live out the cycles, the rhythm of life laid out in the Church calendar, which is really the recapitulation of all things\u2013the rhythm of existence, reality.<\/p>\n

One of the earliest Christian creeds or statements of faith was this very simple series of declarations:<\/p>\n

Christ has died; Christ is Risen; Christ will come again.<\/em><\/p>\n

Simple, yes, but the depth here is astounding.\u00a0 Here, we might say, is all of Christian theology (including the First Testament), philosophy, and the summing up of all things.<\/p>\n

Here is past, present, and future.\u00a0 Not just in the sense of the Christian narrative or calendar, but literally: Past, Present, and Future.\u00a0 Or, the eternal now we experience, at whatever moment, as recapitulation, as the moment in time we experience from being part of the parade of life as opposed to the view from above that sees beginning and end as one eternal moment or now.<\/p>\n

This is not only about Christ, but about us and creation.\u00a0 Creation has died, is raised, and will be gloried.<\/p>\n

We have died, we have been raised, and we will be gloried.<\/p>\n

Whatever our past, whatever our present, whatever our future\u2014they will not supersede, surpass, or be counted out of those three statements.<\/p>\n

All existence, every atom, every molecule, whatever the deepest part of the ocean, whatever the farthest star, all that have died, all that live, all that will live, will still be accounted for in those three statements.\u00a0 There is not one iota of existence that will not be addressed, in some form or manner, by those three statements.<\/p>\n

They are the last Word to the Fall, death, the devil, sin, pain, suffering, evil, and hate.\u00a0 No other Word (action), or words, or statements, or summations, will have the last word, like those words will.<\/p>\n

Is this because of totalities, absolutes, or some Hegelian synthesis?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 It\u2019s because when the principalities and powers, the rich, the state, the nation, the religious leaders, the powerful, me, you, us, the people, killed God, what was offered in return was forgiveness, peace, love, and reconciliation.<\/p>\n

Such a response shatters all thesis, antithesis, synthesis, and totalities\u00a0as it does all philosophical abstract formulas and intellectual theorizing.\u00a0 When understood poetically, when seen from within the love conveyed, for those who have ears to hear (crushed hearts), they are true statements.\u00a0 They just are<\/em>. For others, they become a philosophy for refutation, an argument about physics to win, or something to synthesize.\u00a0 Or, something to ignore.\u00a0 In other words, nothing was heard or seen.\u00a0 Thus, none of what those declarations offer can be true or helpful\u2014none of which, of course, changes anything as to their assertions, or truth.<\/p>\n

Whether we stop and admire the rose, take in its perfume and beauty, or walk by completely unaware and indifferent, the rose remains.\u00a0 It just is<\/em>.\u00a0 Perhaps some think it a weed.\u00a0 When pointed out, to argue an anti-rose somewhere or that many things are pretty and smell good is to miss the point.<\/p>\n

A Word in blood, pierced, hung naked on a tree because we would not accept or receive such a love, will have the last word.\u00a0 Not as violence, not as in winning an argument, not as in proving anything, but only as a statement of being, as in, what is<\/em>.\u00a0 That word:<\/p>\n

Christ has died; Chris is risen; Christ will come again.<\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026what exactly constitutes healing in the Christian sense is made impossibly complex in light of a Crucified Savior who keeps His wounds after the Resurrection.\u201d ~Michael Altenburger<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence cannot tolerate the presence of one who owes it nothing.\u201d ~Ren\u00e9 Girard<\/p>\n

\u201cHope is not about proving anything. It\u2019s about choosing to believe this one thing, that love is bigger than any grim, bleak shit anyone can throw at us.\u201d ~Anne Lamott<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole world is the Holy Grail, for it has received into itself and contains Christ\u2019s precious blood and water. The whole world is the chalice of Christ\u2019s blood and water; the whole world partook of them in communion at the hour of Christ\u2019s death. And the whole world hides the blood and water within itself. A drop of Christ\u2019s blood dripped upon Adam\u2019s head redeemed Adam, but also all the blood and water of Christ that flowed forth into the world sanctified the world. The blood and water made the world a place of the presence of Christ\u2019s power, prepared for the world for its future transfiguration, for the meeting with Christ come in glory. . . . The world has become Christ, for it is the holy chalice, the Holy Grail.\u201d ~ Sergius Bulgakov<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I write, it is Good Friday, the year of our Lord, 2018, and tomorrow will be the harrowing of hell and then Sunday will come.\u00a0 Christians will greet each other with, \u201cHe is risen,\u201d and receive the response, \u201cHe is risen indeed.\u201d\u00a0 We live out the cycles, the rhythm of life laid out in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3524,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[50,107,323,389,434,473,479],"class_list":["post-553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christian-life","tag-easter","tag-paschal-mystery","tag-resurrection","tag-spiritual-direction","tag-theology","tag-time"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Last Word<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As I write, it is Good Friday, the year of our Lord, 2018, and tomorrow will be the harrowing of hell and then Sunday will come.\u00a0 Christians will greet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/03\/31\/the-last-word\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Last Word\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As I write, it is Good Friday, the year of our Lord, 2018, and tomorrow will be the harrowing of hell and then Sunday will come.\u00a0 Christians will greet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/03\/31\/the-last-word\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Divergence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-31T06:59:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@darrelllackey1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darrell Lackey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/03\/31\/the-last-word\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/03\/31\/the-last-word\/\",\"name\":\"The Last Word\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-31T06:59:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-31T06:59:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\"},\"description\":\"As I write, it is Good Friday, the year of our Lord, 2018, and tomorrow will be the harrowing of hell and then Sunday will come.\u00a0 Christians will greet\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/03\/31\/the-last-word\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/03\/31\/the-last-word\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/2018\/03\/31\/the-last-word\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Last Word\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/\",\"name\":\"Divergence\",\"description\":\"Commentary Regarding Fundamentalism - Evangelicalism\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/d88a32b8d4b5f40fbd6ccbfce4e0f813\",\"name\":\"Darrell Lackey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/divergence\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/333bbffd8a9f931197abc00b19242031?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/333bbffd8a9f931197abc00b19242031?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Darrell Lackey\"},\"description\":\"Darrell Lackey has served as a lead pastor and currently works in the private sector. 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