Intentionally Pausing

A Holy Week Experiment in Creating Space

The Transgression of Easter

Written by Glenn Collins

Easter marks the beginning of Christian hope realized in the promise of transgressive actions. During Easter, the boundary lines between decent and indecent, moral and immoral, in and out, must be redressed rather than given new clothes to update the image of old boundaries.

Easter as transgressive action shouldn't surprise us. Redressing social lines was the drive behind Jesus' parable of the despised Samaritan. Who is my neighbor, which carries the obligation to look out for and associate with, was expanded to focus on the people you see as immoral, heretical, and indecent. The parable called the moral and pious scribe to identify with the priest accepting hospitality from and being socially indebted to the people he hated most. To honor Jesus' call to become a neighbor is to embrace indecency in our relationships.

The promise of Easter is witnessed in the threat of becoming a neighbor who embraces Jesus' habit of using indecency to redress social boundaries toward a more inclusive and transgressive space.

A Prayer to Love Our Neighbours

Lord, you have said
that to truly love you
then I must also
love my neighbour,
which can be difficult
when we disagree
or lifestyles clash.
Yet in overcoming
those difficulties
it is possible to see
the miracle that you
love someone like me.
Teach us to love, Lord,
as you have loved us
that this world might be
a better neighbourhood
in which to live and share.
Amen.

Creating Space for Neighbors

Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. We started our experiment of creating space with a. little self-love, and we should finish by loving our neighbors. Jesus' answer is expansive when asked the question who is my neighbor? Loving our neighbor goes beyond those who live next to us, but there is a good chance we don't know those who live next to us. So go, learn the name and story of a neighbor.