- Read this poem by Wendell Berry.
- Then, read an excerpt from a sermon by Rev. Virginia Wolfe:
“Ardently, we need to practice resurrection. What does that mean? According to Wendell Berry, we must free ourselves from money’s control. We must “every day do something/ that won’t compute. Love the Lord./ Love the world. Work for nothing./ Take all that you have and be poor.” Look at all the things he tells us to do-all the things that will free us from the addiction of consumerism. Ask yourself, how are these examples of practicing resurrection. What does it mean to “praise ignorance, for what man/ has not encountered he has not destroyed”? Why should we “ask the questions that have no answers[,] . . . plant sequoias[,] . . . [have] faith in the two inches of humus[,] . . . expect the end of the world[, and] . . . Laugh? Why should we “be joyful/ though [we] . . . have considered all the facts”? Why should we “go with . . . [our] love to the fields[, and] . . . lie easy in the shade”? Why should we lose our minds?
Ask yourself, what is resurrection? … After Jesus’ death, he came alive in his followers. They remembered him. They talked about him. They continued in relationship with him, trying to understand what his life had meant for them. As he came alive in them, they came alive. Many of us have had this experience after the deaths of loved ones. They do not leave us in spirit. We continue in relationship. They are alive in us. Realizing this, we return from grief to life. Resurrection, then, is the return to life of what has been lost. So practicing resurrection is bringing to life what has been lost.
In this year, in this country, what has been lost all too often is life. We have replaced it with money. This is Wendell Berry’s point. Rather than live, we compute and calculate. Trying to save our lives, we destroy them and those of others. The message is clear. Life is about freedom and not safety. We must turn away from our obsession with money and resurrect life. All of those actions which Berry encourages us to take are life-giving. They are examples of practicing resurrection.”
* The full sermon can be found here .
