The View from Pandemic Lockdown: Stuck in an 'Everlasting Present' the Wired Word for the Week of April 19, 2020

The View From Pandemic Lockdown: Stuck in an 'Everlasting Present' The Wired Word for the Week of April 19, 2020

In the News

Timothy Merrill, a member of The Wired Word editorial team, has been pastor of a church of English- speaking expats in Shanghai, China, for the last several years. His wife Jeanie has been teaching at an English-speaking school there. They'd been planning to conclude their work in China this coming June. In late January, having a couple of weeks off and taking only minimal luggage with them, they flew to the United States to visit family members.

But with the unanticipated travel restrictions imposed by China in its efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus, returning there to finish out their time is now on hold. And they have an apartment of furniture in Shanghai that needs to be packed up and shipped by June 30.

The Merrills' predicament is but one of perhaps millions of stories worldwide about people who have been stranded away from home because of the pandemic or had their lives otherwise interrupted.

A few days ago, Scaachi Koul, a BuzzFeed news reporter, wrote about her parents, residents of Canada, who were visiting family in India when international travel was shut down. In India, Koul's mother has been unable to get one of her prescribed drugs, "the same one everyone's been taking because they think it helps cure Covid-19," Koul says.

"Everything with my parents feels so precarious," says Koul, "like their lives are little wires that could get snipped at any minute. I wouldn't even see it coming. I wouldn't even be able to get to them in time to see it happen."

Beyond international travel restrictions, lockdowns in the United States mean that some adults aren't able to see their newborn grandchildren, weddings have been postponed, the deceased are being buried without mourners present, plans of all sorts are in limbo, visits to our loved ones in nursing homes are forbidden, eagerly anticipated events have been cancelled, personal plans are in jeopardy, and people who'd had good jobs are suddenly filing for unemployment. And this includes people who, as far as they know, don't have the disease.

Obviously, the lives of those who have contacted Covid-19 are much more upset, and some are not surviving it.

In a recent article, Matt Simon, a science writer at Wired magazine, referred to a woman who'd said of the current crisis, "It's like there's no future." Simon then explained, "What she meant was we can't plan for the future, because in the age of the coronavirus, we don't know what we'll be doing in six months, or even tomorrow. We're stuck in a new kind of everlasting present" (italics added).

While many people are distressed by this "everlasting present," Merrill, who's still awaiting a change in travel rules to enable a return to Shanghai to close out things there, is philosophical about their circumstances. He quotes the popular saying, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." Merrill also says, "Perhaps we should start adding the initials D.V. after all our statements of future plans. Latin for Deo volente: "God willing."

More on this story can be found at these links:

My Parents Are Stuck in India While It's on Lockdown. They're Not the Only Ones. BuzzFeed Stranded: Nebraskans Overseas Struggle to Get Home During Pandemic. Lincoln Journal Star Why Life During a Pandemic Feels So Surreal. Wired International Students Stuck in Iowa During Covid-19 Pandemic. KCCI Des Moines

The Big Questions

1. How dramatically has your life changed due to the coronavirus? Which practices and habits from the way you had been living are helping you now? Which ones are hindering you now?

2. What is the best part of forced time at home? What is the worst part? How do those reactions fit with the idea of an "everlasting present"?

3. What is the danger of speaking for God? Some may try to tell us that the Lord wants us to learn such and such from the pandemic. Should we accept those statements as expressions of God's will? Why or why not? How about what seems to be God speaking to you directly through prayer? How can you determine what is actually a message from God?

4. Evaluate this statement: Sometimes God's will and our good gets worked out by our plans not working out.

5. What would it mean for you to add the words "God willing" at the end of your plans?

Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:

James 4:13-15 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money." Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that." (For context, read 4L13-17,)

This is not the first time during the current circumstances that TWW has quoted these verses, but they bear repeating.

The popular saying -- "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans" -- seems to echo James' words, though the etymology of the saying is usually traced to the Yiddish proverb Der mentsh trakht und Gott lakht ("Man plans and God laughs").

Meanwhile, the English proverb, "Man proposes and God disposes" is traced to the Latin Homo proponit sed Deus disponit -- and there are similar statements going back centuries before Christ. The same sentiment is found in Proverbs 19:21: "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails" (NIV). But in the context of James' epistle, the statement appears as a warning to merchants. James refers to the uncertainty of life to remind merchants that we are all totally dependent on God, and to think otherwise is arrogance. We can't count on the future being just a continuation of the present -- not for business purposes and not for personal plans either.

Questions: How has the pandemic impacted your plans for 2020? How might God's will be involved in the changes you've had to make? Why?

Luke 12:19-21 "And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry." But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God. (For context, read 12:13-21.)

This is from Jesus' parable of the rich fool, and it's almost as if Jesus had James' words about future plans in mind. The Bible always has a strong emphasis on being right with God in the present moment, and this parable is a case in point.

Questions: In what ways, if any, does your present relationship with God affect how you view the life changes forced on us by the pandemic? How might you use the present restrictions to grow in your understanding of that relationship?

Acts 16:7-9 When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." (For context, read 16:6-15.)

At one point on Paul's second missionary journey, Paul and his companions intended to go to Bithynia, but God had other plans. In a nighttime vision, Paul saw a man of Macedonia pleading with him to come there. Paul and his friends understood the vision as God breaking in on their plans, and obeyed. And when they went to Macedonia, they had a fruitful ministry.

Questions: When has God "closed a door" in your life? What happened? How did you feel about the closed door then? How do you feel about it now? How might what you learned from that experience help you with the closed door of the pandemic-related restrictions.

Matthew 6:25-26, 33-34 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ... But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. (For context, read 6:25- 34.)

Regarding time, the Bible speaks of four dimensions: past, present, future and eternity. As you might expect, the Bible has things to say about eternity, but generally as something that belongs uniquely to God, the One who is from everlasting to everlasting, and who is above and beyond time. Even the eternal life which Christ promises Christians after death becomes theirs only because they go into God's presence.

The past is important in the Bible. Time and again the people of the Bible recalled how God had been with them not only personally, but also with their ancestors. The events of the exodus from Egypt, for example, were retold from generation to generation with the lesson that "As God was with us then, so he will be with us now." The past, though it unrolls behind us, is gone and cannot be changed. We can and should learn from it, and, as the Israelites did, allow it to remind us of God's faithfulness in days gone by, but we cannot make a life on memories.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Bible doesn't say very much about the future in its meaning of the time ahead on earth in a person's life. In fact, in the King James Version of the Bible, the word "future" does not even occur. In modern Bible translations, which use current equivalent words for some ideas, there are a few occurrences of "future" (16 times in the NRSV, for example) Some of those refer to God's covenant being made not only with the people at that time, but also with generations to come (e.g., Genesis 9:12; Psalm 22:30). Proverbs 19:20 suggests that the wise person will listen to advice and accept instruction, and thus have wisdom for the future. There are also promises that those who fear the Lord will have a future and a hope. But that's about it.

Of course, the Bible was written in a time when the things that usually cause us to think about the future didn't exist. Social Security, IRAs and pension plans were unheard of. People had little opportunity to schedule next summer's vacation or to think about what they would do after graduation.

The future, though filled with possibilities, is worth making arrangements for and setting goals for, but to focus primarily on the future means our life becomes wrapped up in either anxiety or anticipation, and they aren't any better foundations for life than is memory.

In the final analysis, the parts of time that seem of most concern in the Bible are the present and eternity, as Jesus' words above illustrate. Striving first for the kingdom of God is focusing on eternity, though since Jesus said elsewhere that the kingdom of God is already "among/within" you (Luke 17:21), it too can be heard as a focus on the present. And note that Jesus concludes the passage with words about the present.

To focus on eternity means to be concerned with God. And to focus on the present allows us to respond to God -- as C.S. Lewis put it in The Screwtape Letters, "obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure" and responding to the present call of God.

Questions: Why pray when you can worry? How is worrying impacting you right now? What future possibilities are sapping your peace right now? How might a focus on eternity help? How might a focus on the present help?

For Further Discussion 1. A friend of one TWW team member says that the experience of sheltering-in-place feels like the comedy movie Groundhog Day, where a man keeps living the same day over and over. How has the absence of the weekly events that help distinguish one day of the week from another affected you?

2. Comment on this, from TWW team member Frank Ramirez: "Back in the nineties, one of my ministries was to conduct a Bible study at a nursing home. Taking James 4:13-15 seriously, I would often add 'Lord willing' in my monolog, especially at the end, when I'd say 'See you next Thursday, Lord willing.' I learned later my nickname among the residents was 'Lord Willing,' a sort of mocking royal title!"

3. Discuss the article Why Life During a Pandemic Feels So Surreal and tell what advice you heard in it that might be useful to you now.

4. Respond to this article How Early Christians Handled Their 'Covid-19' and tell what advice you read in it that might be useful to you now.

Responding to the News

If you don't already do so, consider making prayer and Bible reading a part of your daily routine.

Prayer

Be with us, O Lord, wherever we may be sheltering during this crisis. Let us find ways to care for one another even while maintaining necessary distance. Be especially with those who have lost loved ones to the virus. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Other News This Week 42nd Oberammergau Passion Play on Hold, But Christ's Invitation to Participate in His Life Still Holds The Wired Word for the Week of April 19, 2020

In the News

The 42nd season of the world-famous Oberammergau Passion Play (OPP) in Bavaria, Germany, scheduled to open next month, has been postponed until May 16, 2022, due to the coronavirus. First held in 1634 on a stage erected over graves of victims of the bubonic plague, the play grew out of the Oberammergau villagers' pledge to produce a play every decade about the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, if God would remove the scourge of the Black Plague from their midst. When deaths from the disease declined, they took it as evidence that God had spared them, and kept their vow, except when war or edicts from government or church authorities prevented them from doing so.

More than 2,000 villagers (about half the population of Oberammergau) are involved in performing or producing the open-air play, which takes over five hours, and includes a three-hour intermission for dinner. One resident said that the village lives for the play. Over the years, the play has attracted royalty, heads of state, famous musicians, artists, architects, authors, financiers, military and religious leaders (including at least three future popes), Nobel Prize winners, business magnates, media tycoons, and people from all walks of life. In 2000, the play attracted about 520,000 guests from around the world.

Many travelers consider attendance at the play a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage. Texas native Delisle Doherty, 69, had hoped the OPP would help "bring the Bible to life" for him and his wife and "take [their] spiritual life to the next level," he said. But attendance at the play mattered less to him, he said, than "to spiritually care for others in the midst of the crisis" of the pandemic.

"No matter how much of a blessing it would have been to see the Passion Play with other Christians," said Cindy Friedrich, 59, of Apache Junction, Arizona, "God wants us to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our neighborhoods right now, so that people are not scared and know they have someone to cling to in the midst of so many uncertainties."

Over the centuries, the drama went through various iterations, as new directors, actors and community leaders brought their own sensibilities and beliefs to bear on the process. Previous versions have often been faulted for offensive caricatures of Jews and dismissiveness of the Jewish faith.

The OPP uses tableaux vivants (living images) referencing scenes or characters from the Old Testament, seen through the lens of the New Testament. Using a theological method known as typology, these scenes and characters were meant to explain how the testaments are related. While sometimes useful, these tableaux could also lead to misunderstanding of the biblical text.

After seeing the play in 1930 and 1934, during its 300th anniversary season, Adolf Hitler declared, "Never has the menace of Jewry been so convincingly portrayed." In his view, the OPP depicted the Roman governor Pilate as superior "in race and intelligence" who appeared to be "a rock in the midst of the Jewish vermin and swarm." The Nazis exploited the play to further their own malevolent political agenda.

In 1965, the Roman Catholic Church issued its Nostra Aetate which stated the church position that the Jews could not be held collectively responsible for Jesus' death, and that God had not abandoned the Jews. That put the OPP script at odds with mainstream Catholic teaching, which meant that the play could no longer receive the missio canonica, or official Church blessing.

For decades, Jewish leaders and others have urged OPP organizers to remove anti-Semitic aspects of the script and dramatic presentation.

In 1990, when Oberammergau native, Christian Stückl became the director of the OPP, real progress in this area came with greater emphasis on Jesus' Jewish roots. In the current version of the play, Jesus wears a kippah (Jewish head covering), is called "Rabbi," prays in Hebrew, and lifts up a (facsimile) of the Torah. Certain tableaux deemed offensive or "supersessionist" (suggesting that Christianity superseded or replaced Judaism) were deleted from the script. More blame for Jesus' death was placed at the feet of Pilate.

Stückl's version of the OPP features more quotations from the Gospels, especially from the Sermon on the Mount, and challenges the audience to respond to Jesus' call to love others and to be radically transformed. More on this story can be found at these links:

2020 Passion Play Oberammergau. Passionplay-oberammergau.com Oberammergau Passion Play 2020 – Trailer (Video 1:26). Mayflower Cruises and Tours Easter Pageant Started by Pandemic in 1633 Canceled by Covid-19. Christianity Today Oberammergau Passion Play: A Brief History in the Context of Christian-Jewish Relations. AJC Oberammergau Play: Still Anti-Semitic. The New York Times

Applying the News Story

Delisle Doherty, had hoped a trip to see the OPP would help "bring the Bible to life" for him and his wife and "take [their] spiritual life to the next level."

TWW team member Jim Berger reflected: "The Holy Land Experience theme park in Orlando, Florida, just up the road from Disney World, has been doing daily shows for years with Jesus walking through the crowd. You can see the pinnacle of the temple from I-4 as you pass by. We're told not to make a graven image of God, but people love to see a Jesus they can touch."

On a webpage about Christian discipleship, we found this statement: "The Christian faith is grounded in the love and grace of God, experienced through Jesus Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is our response to God's love and grace. The church calls our response to God Christian discipleship. Discipleship focuses on actively following in the footsteps of Jesus. As Christian disciples, we are not passive spectators but energetic participants in God's activity in the world. Because of what God has done for us, we offer our lives back to God. We order our lives in ways that embody Christ's ministry in our families, workplaces, communities and the world."

Whatever value we may find in dramatic productions of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, they have their limits, and at times may actually hinder "bringing the Bible to life" in us.

In this lesson, we seek God's guidance in how to move from being "passive spectators" of the life, death and resurrection of Christ, to being "energetic participants in God's activity in the world." We seek to learn how we can become a stage upon which people can see a Jesus they can touch.

The Big Questions

1. Have you attended a performance of the passion play at Oberammergau or another passion play based on the life, death and resurrection of Christ? Have you ever performed in an Easter or Christmas play or cantata? What did you take away from the experience? What were the positive and negative aspects of the presentation?

2. How can you move from being a spectator, observing Jesus from the sidelines of his life, death and resurrection, to being a more active participant in his life, death and resurrection?

3. Do you think live theatrical productions or cinematic depictions of the life of Christ are primarily positive, or mostly negative? Explain your position.

4. If you were tasked with writing a passion play about Jesus Christ using a format similar to that used by the Oberammergau scriptwriters, who sought to connect the dots between Jewish tradition and Christ's teachings, which scenes, if any, would you include from the Old Testament, and which would you omit? Explain your rationale for your choices.

5. If you were directing a play like this, how would you deal with the problem of elements in the script and production that were inaccurate, anti-Semitic, or actually antithetic to the teachings of the Bible? How would you "fix" such problems? How would you deal with societal and cultural pressures to make it less accurate or less reflective of the teachings of the Bible?

Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:

Isaiah 58:6-7, 9-10 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? ... If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. (For context, read 58:1-14.)

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells a parable about two men who went to the temple to pray. The first, a Pharisee, fastidiously observed religious disciplines such as fasting and tithing, while the second, a tax collector, was grieved over his faults and threw himself upon God's mercy. While the Pharisee assumes that God must be pleased with him, Jesus says it is the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who is justified before God.

In the Isaiah passage, God grieves over his people, who on the surface seek God daily, fasting and humiliating themselves, delighting to know God's ways and to draw near to God (vv. 2-5), yet all their religious playacting is really in their own self-interest, for they oppress their workers (vv. 3-4).

It's not enough, God says, to make a good show of religion, even to the point of humiliating yourself before God (v. 5). The kind of religion, the type of fast, that pleases God involves working for the liberation of those who are unjustly deprived of liberty, feeding the hungry with your own food, housing the homeless poor in your own house, clothing the naked (vv. 6-7, 10).

Questions: How can we be sure that our religious activities are not just performances done in the hope of impressing God or other people, to gain something we believe is in our own self-interest? When have you experienced your light rising in the darkness and your gloom lifting like the noonday, after you acted to meet the needs of others rather than in your own self-interest? What did you learn from that experience? Romans 6:3-4, 10-11 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. … The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (For context, read 6:1-14.)

Baptism is one way Christians portray a spiritual reality through a sacred act or ritual. In some churches that practice baptism by immersion, these verses are cited thus: As the baptismal candidate is lowered beneath the water, the celebrant says something like, "Buried with him by baptism into death," and as the candidate is lifted out of the water, the pastor says, "Raised with him to newness of life."

Paul is not suggesting that the water of baptism has some magical properties that bestow the power of the Resurrection on us. But rather that the resurrection of Christ endows us with the power to die to sin and to rise to a different way of living, free from slavery to sin (vv. 6-8).

We could go through the motions of being baptized, but the ritual has no power unless accompanied by the reality of a changed life. Therefore, we are called to present ourselves to God "as those who have been brought from death to life" (v. 13), no longer bound to sin as our slave master, but rather to Christ the one Master who sets us free from slavery to sin.

Questions: How does a person "die to sin"? How have you experienced that in your own life? What attachments of this world have you abandoned as part of your response to follow Christ?

Luke 9:23-25 Then [Jesus] said to them all, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?" (For context, read 9:21-27.)

Any child who has ever played "Follow the Leader" has an idea what it means to follow someone else. In that game, the followers are supposed to do what the leader does, to behave the way the leader behaves. Whoever fails to follow the leader is out of the game.

Just before Jesus spoke the words in this text, he foretold his passion, rejection, murder and resurrection (vv. 21-22). Then he invited his listeners to become more than spectators of his self- sacrifice, but to join him in that same journey to the hill of Calvary.

When we follow Jesus, we may stumble and fall. We don't follow him perfectly. Thank God that we are not automatically disqualified when that happens. But Jesus keeps calling us to "take up our cross daily" and follow him. If we put it down yesterday, we can take it up again today and begin again.

The 20th-century Christian martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote in The Cost of Discipleship: "The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death -- we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."

Questions: What does it mean to "deny yourself"? What does it mean to "take up your cross daily"? How is it that denying yourself leads to gaining your life, while seeking to save your life results in losing or forfeiting yourself? How is union with Christ in his death "not the terrible end" but the beginning of our communion with Christ, as Bonhoeffer said?

1 Corinthians 11:23-24, 33-34 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." … So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If you are hungry, eat at home, so that when you come together, it will not be for your condemnation. (For context, read 11:17-34.)

Often when we read this passage during a service of communion, we focus on the words of institution found in verses 23-26. There we are reminded that every time we come to the Lord's table, we are re- enacting the death of Christ, as if it is a mini-passion play. But the context is critically important for a full understanding of those verses.

In verses 17-22, Paul describes the Lord's Supper, not as our contemporary observance in which we partake of a small piece of bread and take a sip of wine, but as a full meal. But there was a problem. The Corinthian church was divided between the haves and the have-nots. Some members of the fellowship, who apparently had the good fortune of not having to work for a living, came to the community meal and gorged themselves to the point of drunkenness, leaving nothing for poor working stiffs who arrived late after their shift was over. Or perhaps those with means brought their own lunches, diving right in, while at the next table sat people with nothing to eat. And those with lunches never noticed, or if they did notice, they failed to share what they had with those who had nothing.

That kind of meal, which allows some to feast while others faint from hunger, is hardly the kind of meal that would please Jesus. "Is this 'the Lord's supper' I instituted?" we can almost hear him say. When some consume so selfishly that others are left with nothing? Where is my love when you show contempt for the church of God, my body, and humiliate those who have nothing?"

For those of us who come to the Lord's table to partake of the body and blood of Christ as a spiritual practice, we may have to give more thought to the way we approach this.

Questions: Are we depicting the self-sacrifice of Christ in the way we treat others, or just playing a part in a theatrical production when we come to the Lord's table? When Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of me," what exactly did he want his disciples to do? To have a meal together? To observe a religious ritual? Or something more?

For Further Discussion

1. Respond to this, from Timothy Dalrymple, president and CEO of Christianity Today, who reflected on the meaning of Passion Week: "When we desire something in the depths of our being, do we not suffer for its absence? Or when we suffer something deeply, do we not long for another world, a better world, a world where all things are made right? Is this not why we undertake the privations of Lent, so that even these minor sufferings will summon and deepen our desire for the deliverance of God? "It was the passionate love of God that moved him to enter into the sufferings of humankind and begin the redemption and restoration of the world. Countless times throughout the history of the church, it has been the passionate love of the Christian that moves her to suffer with those who suffer from injustice or want and to bring hope and healing into places of pain." How do you think Christ's passion might be dramatized in the way you live, especially in this challenging time?

2. Anglican priest Tish Harrison Warren writes: "Practicing the liturgical calendar is like participating in immersive theater. Through fasting, feasting, rites and rituals, we walk into the story of Jesus." From anticipating the birth of Christ during Advent and celebrating his coming at Christmas, through our reflection on our mortality and repenting our sin during Lent as we remember Jesus' 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, we yearn for the triumph of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. But this year, with churches closed due to the pandemic, we might be under the impression that Easter was canceled. But Warren declares that whether or not we gather to celebrate the resurrection of Christ does not alter what happened that first Resurrection day some 2,000 years ago. After all, few people even were aware of Christ's resurrection … just a few grieving women, who told a band of frightened disciples shut up indoors. There were no sunrise services, big brass bands or mass choirs singing praise. "The rest of Jerusalem and the wider world had moved on. … All of the cosmos was changed, and it was almost entirely overlooked," Warren notes. "If the claims of Christianity are true, they are true with or without me. On any given day, my ardent belief or deep skepticism doesn't alter reality one hair's breadth," Warren asserts. The Christian story is not principally "personal, subjective and self-expressive" not merely "a symbol or a metaphor" we use to help us cope or give meaning to our lives. During the horrors of a global pandemic and ensuing economic collapse, we can not afford "sentimentality about the Resurrection," she adds. "The Resurrection is either the whole hope of the world -- the very center of reality -- or Christianity is not worth our time," Warren states. "On the other hand, if Jesus did in fact come back from the dead on a quiet Sunday morning some 2,000 years ago, then everything is changed -- our beliefs, our ethics, our politics, our time, our relationships." Warren reminds us that the emergence of Jesus from the tomb never depended on our festivals. And just as the Resurrection could not be thwarted by the stone in front of the entrance to the tomb, the locked doors of our churches during this time of pestilence cannot keep Jesus' resurrection power and life buried in the grave. "The truest fact of the universe is an empty tomb," Warren concludes. "... If Jesus is risen in actual history, with all the palpability of flesh, fingers, bone and blood, there is hope that our mourning will be comforted and that death will not have the final word." You can read Warren's commentary in full here. What difference does viewing the resurrection of Christ as a historical event rather than a legend or myth make? Where are you seeing the hope of the Resurrection this year?

3. How might the anti-Semitic aspects of the OPP be related to the circumstances of the plague that birthed it? Do you think the anti-Semitism that critics say has been embedded in the play from its inception could have been avoided, and if so, how?

4. While the Transfiguration of Christ (Matthew 17:1-8) does not occur in the final week of Jesus's life, and thus not within the chronological limits set by the original creators of the Oberammergau Passion Play, it does depict Jesus conversing with Moses and Elijah, who represent Jewish law and the prophets. How might including this incident from the life of Jesus affect the message and impact of the play?

5. As time permits, peruse this explanation of typology, a theological method used extensively throughout the centuries in the production of the Oberammergau Passion Play. How might this methodology lend itself to abuse and gross mischaracterization of the teaching of scripture? How can such abuse be avoided? When, if ever, have you found greater meaning in scripture through the use of this method?

6. One charge laid against the OPP is that it is supersessionist in its theology, giving the impression that the Christian religion is superior to the Jewish faith. The Free Dictionary defines supersession as "the act of replacing one person or thing by another, especially one held to be superior." The writer of the New Testament book of Hebrews methodically lays out a theological argument that Jesus is the fulfillment of God's plan of salvation, and, as such, is superior in every way to all other beings, whether angelic or human. Do you agree with those who say that this makes the book of Hebrews anti-Semitic? Why or why not? If you haven't read the 13 chapters of the book of Hebrews lately, now might be a good time to do so as you consider this question.

7. Check out this article to learn why some people find anti-Semitism in the New Testament. How would you respond to such charges? How can we highlight and honor the uniqueness of Christ while still showing love for the Jewish people and respect for their faith?

8. Read Romans 11:1-36. How does this passage handle the question of how the Jews fit into God's plan of salvation?

Responding to the News

To keep people engaged with art they love even if they can't visit the museum where the art is housed during the Covid-19 lockdown, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles invited their social media followers to recreate iconic works of art using objects and people in their own homes. The results are sometimes poignant, sometimes hilarious. Instagram accounts Covid Classics and Tussen Kunst & Quarantaine, a Dutch Instagram account whose name means "between art and quarantine," feature similar recreations. Perhaps group members who are so inclined could attempt a similar project using everyday objects and people in their own homes, re-creating scenes from the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Take photos or video of the projects to share with each other and on social media if you wish, as a way to encourage others and retell the story of Jesus.

Prayer

O God our Redeemer, let us not be satisfied to be spectators on the sidelines of the life, passion, death and resurrection of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. But by the power of your Spirit, enable us to fully partake of and participate in his suffering and newness of life, for your honor and glory. Amen.