Meditations on (the) Resurrection

Easter.  Resurrection Sunday.  Most of the family is sick so the one Sunday when many people actually go to church, we elected to stay home and rest.  But G-d intervened in a powerful way for me.  While 'worshipping' in my studio, aided by a brief look at Facebook (the best spiritual insights come from the most unspiritual of means/places) I came across this:



 I don't follow dance so I had no idea who Trisha Brown was/is.  Sometimes it is helpful to know the artist and their intentions to get into a work, and much of my time is spent reading, watching videos, etc. to find out about an artist and what they're all about.  Other times, though, a work is so powerful, so affecting that an immediate connection is made, and the meaning of the work has less to do with the artist's intentions and more about the viewer's reception, the consequences of the work.

Watching these 'dancers' writhe and struggle their way through endless combinations of 'dressing' and 'undressing' I was struck by this powerful visual metaphor that embodied several things I have been thinking about lately and brought them together into a deeper understanding of the idea of Resurrection.

1.  Talking and Listening.  My wife and I recently went through a marriage coaching training where we were (re)introduced to patterns of communication, in this case, between married couples.  I had come across similar concepts in a phenomenal book called Solving Tough Problems by Adam Kahane.  Both describe specific ways of talking and listening that emphasized the necessity of empathy.  The speaker is to frame statements in a form that invites empathy.  The listener's role is not to answer or offer a rebuttal, but to understand, to empathize, to gain a perspective that is the other's perspective.  To stand in their shoes... or, in the case of this video, to put on their clothes.  In a Resurrection sense, it breathes new meaning into Romans 13:14: "Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh."

2.  Identity.  Who are we?  I think often the trouble we have with listening as described above is the danger of losing ourselves.  If we are the listeners then we have no voice of our own.  We want to be the ones speaking and being validated.  We want to wear our own clothes.  But are those clothes really ours?  Watching the two 'dancers' struggle to fit into different clothes in the improbable space of suspension from ropes, I saw (or rather felt- a sign of good art is that seeing and feeling are inextricably intertwined) the struggle, the tight-wire act that we all perform in society.  We fight for our belonging in this society, twisted and turned every which way among the ropes of peer pressure, job demands, religious convictions, and physical desires to name just a few.  And those of us belonging to a religious tradition struggle with the concept of 'clothing ourselves with Christ.'  Of taking on the identity of Christ.  Of being like Christ in this world.

3.  Responsibility.  My wife and I have lately been watching the series 'Sons of Anarchy.'  It's a show about a motorcycle club/gang that runs an illegal gun trade and pretty much runs the small town where they live.  (Again- an unlikely setting in which to have spiritual insights, but here we go.)  We are fascinated by the sense of loyalty and responsibility that pervades the members of the club.  You don't have to be a member of the club.  Many of the members' childhood friends are still that, friends, even though one is in the club and the other is not.  However, if you choose to be in the club, you have a responsibility to the club and to its business.  You don't have a choice.  If you choose to join, you are choosing to put yourself in a position where you don't get to choose what to participate in and what you don't.  I was reminded of that while watching the 'dancers' in the performance.  At times they were just sitting on top of the ropes, trying to figure out where to go next.  Putting myself in their position, the temptation would be to stay up there- the activity otherwise would be too difficult.  But that wasn't their job.  There job was to get into it, to be involved, and to perform regardless of its physical difficulty and uncomfortableness.  When they chose to do the performance/dance, they chose to not have the option of sitting back and doing nothing.
        We recently started worshipping with the Vancouver Church of Christ.  They are encouraging the members to become more responsible in being members.  They are establishing some expectations that membership requires.  I see this as a good thing.  It's not about coercion or judgement if you don't participate.  But it is about this notion that if you choose to be a part of something, you are choosing to not have the option of doing nothing.  It's time to dance.  It's time to perform.

Resurrection.  New life.  A new life that is represented as being clothed with Christ.  It's a new identity.  It's a responsibility to each other to understand and empathize- to put on their identity for the sake of unity, harmony, for the sake of... Resurrection.