Let’s talk curtains
It’s Easter Saturday … this offers the stillness, silence and space that so many of us struggle with. During our life span, we will often find ourselves in our own Easter Saturday, no longer where we were, but not yet where we will be. It can be hard on Saturday to trust that Monday will come. Easter offers us an annual reminder in recognition of our tendency for spiritual amnesia, about what we need to remember most.
This morning I was thinking about all of this. I love the magic of the early mornings, and this morning was no exception. If I sleep through until 5.30am, I take this as a win. My overactive mind has always interfered with my body’s need for sleep.
Anyway, when I went downstairs and wondered into my conservatory, I was greeted by the most musical, magical sound of birdsong. It doesn’t matter how many times I hear this or witness all things Spring, they still make my heart leap for joy. These are the moments that set me up for a day of seeing all things through the lens of my relationship with Jesus Christ. How grateful I am to have eyes that see and ears that hear – when I remember to look and listen!
The first few hours of my day are dedicated to hanging out with Jesus because he feeds me on a way deeper level than my muesli does. He gives me wisdom, insight, encouragement, comfort, strength and whatever else he knows I’ll need for the day. Love is the non-negotiable most important ingredient for any day. And He’s a generous God who always gives more than we need so there’s enough to share with others.
As I read my UCB daily devotional, I was struck by the word ‘curtains’. Obviously as it’s Easter Saturday, the reading is about what Jesus came to do – to become the connector between our flawed selves and our perfect God. This isn’t new news for any Christian, but our God is not a dead or dry God. He offers us new, fresh, living ways to see and share his life, death, words, ways and wisdom every day, when we seek him.
Each morning, I look back and thank God for all the blessings I noticed from the previous day. And I ask him to speak to me in preparation for the day he knows I will have. As a God of his word, who’s ways are not our ways, he does what he says he will. Always and without exception.
As soon as I clocked the word ‘curtains’ in my reading, I remembered a conversation from earlier this week. It was about the impending funeral to celebrate the life of the one who died unexpectedly. The question was asked whether we wanted the ‘curtains’ to be closed at the end of the service. This typically symbolises the final curtain call of life as one moves beyond this world to the next. The answer was a resounding ‘no’ from us all. Too visual, too final, too painful.
I sat with this and sought God’s insight. I considered how God uses the torn curtains to symbolise the end of Jesus’s life in human form. While what Jesus came to do was finished, this was not the end of his life or his reign. It was the beginning of Jesus taking up his life through the hearts, minds, bodies, words and ways of us, his flawed human but still-used-by-God, people. Upon giving our hearts to Jesus, he begins to reign within them in a way that blesses and helps us through all the trouble we’re told we’ll have. And he gives enough to sustain us and share with others, to show something of who God is.
For Jesus, the curtains represented his physical death, but the start of his life through our physical bodies and spirits. That’s you, me and us. The curtains represented a boundary between us and God. Hence the curtains splitting in two removed this leaving us free to be with God anytime we want to. We can be as connected to him as we want, for he has gifted us the free will to choose.
I’m learning to have God on an intravenous drip because whenever I try life my way instead of his, I get myself in an almighty mess. How grateful I am that God is almighty enough, gracious and merciful enough, to always welcome me back with open arms.
For us, curtains symbolise the end of our life in these human body’s. It doesn’t end there though, as Jesus calls us to eternity with him, in brand spanking new bodies. And in a place where there is no more tears or suffering – wow.
We live in a world, in a time full of suffering. Much of which is unnecessarily driven by the human ego and its need for power, at the cost of human life. No wonder Jacinda Ardern, former prime minister of NZ, was vilified by the patriarch for prioritising human life in NZ during Covid. If only men and women could acknowledge, celebrate and collaborate with each other to utilise our respective gifts and perspectives. I’ll pray but I won’t hold my breath on this front. Dinosaurs are far from an extinct species and remain one which endangers life.
But back to the point.
The curtains that split when Jesus died, removed all separation between us and God Almighty, FOREVER. This means that no matter what trouble our ‘Good Friday’ seasons bring, nor how long before our Easter Monday comes, Jesus is with and for us. In this life and beyond.
I love to worship God through song and as I sang/screeched along to the lyrics of a song this morning, I was particularly struck by the truth of these words.
“Where is God in all of this?”
This is often the cry of the human heart when life or death happens in a way that makes our hearts hurt, over what our minds are unable to comprehend. I imagine it is the cry of many a human heart right now, the world over, with all that is happening.
Jesus promised us trouble, but he also encouraged us to ‘take heart’, because he has overcome. He overcame the cross to connect us to the Father forever, if we choose to accept this ultimate invitation from the giver of life. And this father, gives us everything we could possibly need to navigate the toughest, most heart breaking of times. He gives comfort, calm, peace and the love of good people. None of which can be bought. Not even from Amazon. And the best bit of all, the life and death of Jesus that invites us to experience the fullest version of life, the one where he lives in and through us, is FREE!!! Honestly! I know it sounds too good to be true, but I’ve got over twenty years lived experience of testing this! And I can testify that this promise is truer than true! As well as being an offer with no expiry date, until the day we die.
Now that’s what I call good news.
Oh yes, and because God knows how easily I become distracted, he often confirms what he wants me to write about, at least three times. This typically succeeds in getting and securing my attention. He knows I love the number three for its holy and magical qualities! So, just to be sure this morning, I had a notification come up on my FB market page. It had a picture of a pair of red curtains that I had advertised for sale, with the rather original title, ‘Curtains’! I burst out laughing! I love Jesus and the way he works, plays and rests with me! Especially when I let him drive and I stop being such a front seat driver.
“Ok, Jesus, I hear you, I’ll get up and write this piece for you – what a privilege during this annual reminder of what an amazing God you are, to write in a way that points to you!”
I’m always confused when Christians look at me like I’m mad, deluded or both when I share what God has said to me. Of course, I am fallible and I can and do get things wrong at times. But I’ve learned to accept that if I do my best to share what God asks me to share, it’s between God and others to test its truth. And this free’s me to stop staying silent just because my critics remain committed to misunderstanding me and underestimating God!
I will not be silenced, and I will speak on God’s behalf – please do test what I say for yourself.
Happy celebrating and recognising the call of Jesus weekend, one and all.
What an awesome God we all have.
Always trust that your Monday WILL come. No matter how long the weekend turns out to be, nor where it delivers you to.
And if you are wondering what this messed up world is all about and seeking something of real meaning, open your heart to the call of the giver of life this Easter. Please don’t let us, God’s imperfect people, put you off from God’s perfect-ness. The Church continues to earn her poor reputation in many ways. But she also does a lot of good, so please don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
And please be assured that a relationship with God is separate to the Church, which remains full of flawed people like me. However, there are a growing breed of us, God’s people, who are working hard, despite the internal resistance, to lift the carpet. The Church is no different to the average family in that much of the mess and pain gets swept under the ceiling tickling carpets. As if somehow this pleases God, rather than green lighting the one who works oh-so-subtly against God.
But God is different in that he calls us to let him help us deal with what’s under the carpet, not live in fear of it. Or worse still, allow it to grow and fester by pretending its not there. God is not fooled! Neither does he call us to be! He really does call us to be free.
Ps in answer to the question of, ‘where is Jesus in this?’
As the lyrics say,
“He’s right here, where he’s always been”.
Halleluyah!
PPS give me a shout if you want these freshly washed red curtains! Dear Jesus, please help me find the buggers …
