laughter and tears

It isn't so much that Jesus laughed at the world, or wept at the world. He was celebrating with the new world that was beginning to be born, the world in which all that was good and lovely would triumph over evil and misery. He was sorrowing with the world the way it was, the world of violence and injustice and tragedy which he and the people he met knew so well. - N.T. Wright, Simply Christian
I have begun the journey through a new book. Simply Christian is a journey into the heart of Christianity for every day living. It is tauted as an instant classic in the likes of Mere Christianity.

This quote was quick to stand out among many. The tension of life is the combination of celebration and sorrow. With one seemingly fleeting and the other seemingly unending. In the midst of so many swings and changes, can we find a constant answer (hope) to our longings for justice, beauty, and good life.

Could it be that our longing for wholeness and rightness is more than a dream, but is actually an echo of what once was. An echo of what could be again. Here is where religion steps into the plain. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam say there is a God who wants to put it back. Their perspectives on how it happens is different, but at the core the message is the same. What we long for can be reality.

This is where Jesus' life strikes me as so amazing. He enters into the mess and crap of life. He is grieved and moved with compassion. He shares in the sorrow and suffering. And, he says good is at hand. In his laughter and celebration he proclaims, "the Kingdom is near." Hope is coming. God is here.

I have been broken, powerless, grieved, and alone. I have watched lives falling apart and relationships dashed. God grieves with us. God offers to bring us along in our brokenness and put us back together. As we are put back together, so our relationships and communities get restored, and creation itself moves towards being paradise again. It seems too good to be true . . . and it certainly has not gone as I suspected . . . but I have witnessed it in my life and the lives of those around me.

N.T. Wright begins his journey with the longing of humans for more. He says that journey will take us "into the Sun" where we find God at work. And ultimately leads us embracing life as a reflection of God's love and work in the world. More to come . . .