As we near the end of this Easter season, we rejoice in
Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven. In the same way, we are called
to be resurrected in our faith and experience the joy of new life in Christ’s
love. We experience the resurrection of faith through our daily living of the
Paschal Mystery and walking with our Christian brothers and sisters in their
Paschal journey. Similar to Christ’s Paschal journey, Christians today still
experience sacrifice, suffering, rejection, and even death for their faith. In The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, Nik Ripken shares the stories of Christians across the world who
stand up for their faith and experience true suffering, death, and
resurrection. These stories should shock us into growing in our own personal faith
and be resurrected anew in Christ.
Before looking into Nik’s stories,
let us take a deeper look into what the Paschal Mystery is. The Paschal Mystery
refers to God’s saving grace for our lives and His plan for salvation. Paschal
comes from the Greek word ‘pascha’ derived from Hebrew ‘pesah’ or ‘pesach’,
which means Passover. As the Jewish people sacrificed a paschal lamb for the
Jewish Passover, God sacrificed His only son as the sacrificial Paschal Lamb.
Christ died to free us from Original and personal sin setting us free from this
world and the ‘fires of hell’ so one day we could experience eternal rest in
Heaven. Therefore we are called to share God’s saving grace and salvation with
the world, living our own Paschal Mystery of suffering, death, and resurrection
daily.
In the book, Insanity of God, Nik shares true stories of our Christian brothers
and sisters walking in Christ’s shoes while experiencing suffering, death, and
resurrection. The book not only contains true stories of Christ’s love and
resurrection, but also a heartfelt encounter with the misguided understanding
of humanity and the true needs of this world. As Nik goes into Somaliland in
the early 90s, not only do you experience Christ, but you truly see the work of
Satan. His time in Somaliland was spent providing aid and food to rural
villages. After one such provision of aid, Nik and his team learned that a
neighboring clan came in destroying the village, taking the supplies, abusing
the women and girls, torturing the helpless men for just the pure audacity of
accepting goods from the relief workers. The neighboring clan believed they
were more deserving of the goods and services than those who received it.
Therefore, the neighboring clan’s response was to destroy the village. The corruptness
found in Somaliland during the 90s is no different than the violence and
corruption we see across the world today, as neighboring clans, governments,
and individuals destroy and deprive others of clean water, sanitation, food, and
medical aid.
Humanity is not only threatened by
the lack of access to basic human need for food and water, but also the human need for
love, respect, and listening. As Nik and his wife, Ruth, spoke with folks, they
learned quickly that what people wanted most was to share their story. As human
beings, people like to share their stories with others who will not only
listen, but also seek to learn more about their culture, ways of life, and even
their local languages. This basic human need for love and respect of one’s
culture still persists today. I attended a social justice workshop in
Louisville, KY in 2014. At the workshop, we heard about the experiences of
those living on the streets, fighting addictions, and/or living in local
shelters. I listened attentively to their stories, and the overarching theme of
how these individuals found themselves in these situations came down to the
lack of feeling loved, appreciated, and supported by their family, friends, and
the general community. Several stated that the most important thing anyone
could offer them as they stood on the street asking for help was a smile and
kind word, the basic acknowledgement of their presence as humans. In walking
like Christ, this reminds us to not only look at the life of others from our own
worldview, but we are called to walk in the shoes of each person we encounter
to see the world from their viewpoint.
As we walk in Christ’s shoes spreading the good news, we too
experience sacrifice, rejection, and suffering. How we experience that
suffering and sacrifice differs for each of us depending on where we are in
life’s journey, what part of the world we live in, the openness of our faith,
and the people with whom we share our faith. We may face loneliness, fear,
abandonment, disillusionment, or life changes (career, family, friends,
sickness, death). These and so many more things can cause heartache and pain in
our lives but like our brothers and sisters in the persecuted world, we are
called to build and maintain our faith. Through our suffering, we are made
stronger and will be resurrected in our faith to continue going forth to spread
the good news and guide others for the betterment of the world.
Continued Reading: Resurrection of Our Faith: Part II
References
Loyola Press. (n.d.). The paschal mystery in everyday life. Retrieved from http://www.loyolapress.com/the-paschal-mystery-in-everyday-life.htm.
Ripken, N. (2013). The insanity of God: A true story of faith resurrected. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group.
Saint Mary’s Press. (2010). The paschal mystery. Retrieved from http://www.smp.org/dynamicmedia/files/6373199144c2b62a4a01b759411d98dd/TX001312_1-Background-Paschal_Mystery.pdf
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