Riding the Tides

“The sea is not all that responds to the moon. Twice a day the solid earth bobs up and down, as much as a foot.

That kind of force and that kind of distance are more than enough to break hard rock." -John McPhee, Author

Do you feel the push and pull, the waves of Eastertide?

Eastertide is the 50-day time span -

Resurrection Sunday to the tidal crest of Pentecost.

The mix of emotions of the pre-Easter events are enough to cause motion sickness.

And now, joy?

Wait. What just happened?

There was a mission team,

the motley crew of Jesus, the intensive trainees

learning to "see more clearly, love more dearly, and follow more nearly" (Godspell, Day by Day)

the God in flesh,

the One Who represented the invisible God.

This special group, those closest and most devoted to the Teacher,

practiced His ways and tried to imitate His flow.

But the tides turned for them during the shock of the crucifixion:

"Was our mission a fraud and a failure?"

"Were we fools to sign up for this?"

"Will we live and die now in fear?"

Do we ever feel like fools to embark on missions improbable?

Another crew in our recent news surely had similar thoughts:

The astronauts of Artemis 2.

They were the first crewed mission to the moon since 1972.

Who would sign up for 18 months of turbulence and technology training?

Who may have dropped out?

What made them see the mission through?

Even at splashdown, the Artemis 2 crew faced challenges,

emotional and practical.

Temporary communication blackouts.

Intense thermal loading.

Fears and doubts.

The tides of tension and emotion are real on any mission.

Turbulence is disorienting and can be debilitating.

And at the crucifixion of their beloved Christ,

His closest followers witnessed

the mocking of the One embodying the morals of God's character,

the brutality toward the One blessing those around Him, and

the death of the One determined to re-define Life.

The disciples felt despair.

They all left Him and fled. - Mark 14:50

How do we see past a dead-end?

How do we "deal" when we're depressed and debilitated?

How do we "do" when we're desperate to make an exit?

Yet.

"When the Sabbath was over, the women -

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome -

bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus's body."

Mark 16:1-2

How could they have awakened after the nightmare

to collect spices to prepare and bless the body for burial?

How do we see through darkness

and collect ourselves in order to bless?

In "An Invitation" (Bread and Wine, Readings for Lent and Easter),

Joyce Hollyday writes:

"Mary and Mary Magdalene loved with such a perfect love that they shed their fear."

Shed. Their. Fear.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

John 4:18

When fear feels like freezing, love moves.

When fear feels like fleeing, love stays.

When fear feels like fighting, love blesses.

When fear feels like flopping, love steadies.

When fear feels like fawning, love finds quiet strength.

Stepping outside their immediate feelings,

the women took the next step, the next redeeming step.

Because of that step,

they saw what they did not expect:

an empty tomb - meaning a risen Lord.

Just as He had said.

What is it about stepping out in order to see newly?

What is it about hanging on that holds the miracle?

The Artemis 2 crew's story is one of leaving and returning,

of taking a risk in order to see differently.

The committed crew embarked with courage, launched in faith,

and only then emerged with new perspective.

It's one shared by the essence of the Apollo 11 mission:

"What was most significant about the lunar voyage

was not that men set foot on the moon,

but that they set eye on the Earth."

-Mr. Norman Cousins, editor of the Saturday Review

When we change the way we look at things the things we look at change.

To see and re-see.

To view and re-view.

But what about the waves of tension,

the turbulence which might break us,

the motion sickness begging us to give up?

"You must be born again of water and the Spirit."

Jesus in John 3:7

To be born and re-born.

What waters cleanse and renew us?

How is Spirit necessary for us to seek and flow in God's will for our lives?

My Sister-friend says it:

"Anyone can be born, but only Jesus can be raised from the dead."

The presumed dead-end was the beginning.

At Eastertide, He rose as He promised.

At Pentecost, He blessed with the gift of the Spirit.

Henri Nowen expounds on our mission:

Discipleship is the life of the Spirit in us,

by whom we are lifted up into the divine life itself

and receive new eyes to see, new ears to hear and new hands to touch.

It is a witness to the life of God's word in us."

It's His Spirit, given to us

to steady us when we feel dysregulated,

to tether us when we are flailing,

to remind us that we are in the flow of mission,

no matter the fluctuating feelings.

Hollyday pulls us close:

"The women invite you and me to such a faith.

It is a reminder to "rekindle the gift of God that is within you...

for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love. -2Tim 1:6-7"

It's this very ebb and flow we can relax into:

Remembering His example,

Arise and bless.

Repeating to ourselves,

Arise and bless.

Readying for the miracle which we can't see yet,

Arise and bless.