It's a Resurrection not a Resuscitation

A casual comment  reminded today of an experience several years ago in the Thyssen- Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.  After closely admiring a painting (now forgotten) I turned left 90 degrees and came suddenly and unexpectedly face to face with life size image of "the Resuscitated Christ."  His expression of sadness and suffering was palpable.  I was looking into his watery eyes, gaunt cheeks, and his slightly opened mouth.   He had an air of bewilderment and seemed to question what had happened and why.  A very human Jesus was looking for consolation while at the same time giving hope.  For me at that moment Jesus was very much alive!

The reverie passed and I moved on to other art in the museum, in that day before good cell phone cameras.  But in fact it never occurred to me to photograph the painting since my experience was not photographable.  To be in the presence of the Divine is unforgettable.

But forgettable were the name of the artist and time of completion.  All I could recall was some school from the 15th century and I wasn't' sure of that.

Subsequent Google searches have not produced totally conclusive results, but almost.  And looking online at wonderful art is not the same as being there, especially true when the experience is numinous. 

At the Thyssen, there is a painting from the late 1400's once attributed to Bramate but more likely by his student Bramantino.  But it's title is "the Risen Christ," not "the Resuscitated Christ" that I recalled.  Is it the same painting?  Has my memory just tricked me?  Has the title been changed?  Did I see what I already believed?  Actually it was probably my thinking in English and reading in Spanish.  You know, Cristo Resuscitado.  But whatever was the case, from the 500 year old painting, I was able to see a living Jesus.  He stood removed from canvass and not confined by frame.  His shining tears, the warmth of his breath, and the smell of his wounds hung in the air.  There was not a single word, just acknowledgement.

I assume Bramantino and Bramante must have had a similar experience and brought it to life on canvass.  And I can understand too how then this experience has proceeded for milenia from the earliest such experiences.

Which brings me what I heard today:  a local Roman Catholic clergy reported Easter that "it was a resurrection and not a resuscitation."  As this was a second hand report to me, I have no idea what the clergyman meant but you can see how it brought me back to the Thyssen Resuscitated versus the Risen Christ.

From what I can tell, the general belief is that resuscitation refers to a person coming to life again in the same body only to die again later.  Resurrection is to rise from the dead with a different even glorified body never to die again.  These are probably more important distinctions to believers in the traditional Christian doctrines.  But for me both words can be used and are used to designate  "revivalize."  You can resurrect an old idea or resuscitate a forgotten technique.  And you can revitalize the ability to experience the mysteries of life.

A Jesus 500 years encased in canvass burst to life for me.  And Elijah can walk through opened doors.  Ganesha can remove obstacles.  Buddha can bring peace.

To be clear, I am not referring to a physical resurrection.  The Jesus I encountered was no physical body but a mental--or spiritual if you will--experience.  But that is no less real.  My scientific orientation tells me physical bodies die and don't return.  But images and experiences can be without time constraints, caught in the eternal moment.  And as such, the numinous of life, the sacredness of being, can be reinvigorated, revitalized and rejuvenated.  It's not resuscitation.  It's resurrection!

                                                                            ---the Bishop


Cristo Resucitado
https://www.google.com/search?q=cristo+resucitado+thyssen+museum&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=ctxAHdVJE4v1AM%253A%252CWUrkECPS4cp-QM%252C_&usg=__nkkyyTpUf3cm2ddbwl4Ni6Ul0jc%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiT9-r2h9baAhWK1lMKHeW0CVYQ9QEINDAB#imgrc=ctxAHdVJE4v1AM:

A little something about the Bishop

His Happiness, the Good Revved Dr. P. R. Gunter


My background of involvement as a minister in a denominational movement began in 1969 with my ordination in the Universal Life Church under leadership of Kirby Hensley. Like Hensley, I learned later, I had grown disappointed with my religious life and affiliation and sought some relief; and comic relief was good enough for me.   As I remember there was somewhere in ULC's official wordings the statement "It's all funny until you believe." I was also affiliated with some other fine groups.  The Unitarians have a solid if not funny church with no burdensome doctrines.  The Buddhists may be the most reasonable of all.   The Hindus were  broad, open and flexible.

There were also some not so reasonable groups for me. The Presbyterian--founded by John Calvin who had no humor and would burn you at the stake in a skinny minute.  Lutheran--founded by Martin Luther a real tight ass, quite literally.  Episcopalian--where do I begin--with Henry VIII?  Baptist--boy could they have used a drink.  Methodist--I didn't see a much different method than the Baptists. Quakers--a quiet bunch.  Roman Catholics--really celibacy and weird birth control?  And they started and perpetuated much of this mess we have.  Orthodox Catholics--they sound so nice but surely they burned somebody and also there are no super-titles in the services.  Latter Day Saints--whatever they are they are gold plated. Pentecostal---I couldn't understand what they were saying.  Unity--touchy-feely, but not so grounded at times.   Christian Science--I kept looking for the science part.  Non-Denominational--follow the money. Scientology--maybe it was founded by an Alien.

In those days nearly 50 years ago my ministry was limited to blessing the beer at parties, occasional memorial services for anatomy cadavers, and prayer services to aid my fellow students pass their tests.  The parties were successful and all students graduated and no cadavers complained.

Kirby was an illiterate, self taught eccentric who left every minister alone to pursue their own path and had no rigid, onerous doctrinal  requirement.  I had grown up in churches and felt relaxed in them, I noticed, until dogma arrived.  And dogma invariably arrived brought by serious minded, educated, well meaning people--clergy and lay.  Hensley's approach was refreshing and thumb in the eye of those who used degrees to bash everyone with doctrines or beliefs as well as to those not so well educated who just took what they had always  heard with no questioning.

Hensley contended all was legal and all ministers were fully qualified for their ministerial duties.  I certainly had no one question my roll in those days.  However I never had any brick and mortar church and never got into tax issues or funds.  In the early 1970's I became an apostate and eventually lost track of the ULC.  About that time too I learned the ULC was having IRS problems with charges of tax evasion.  This was my time to explore all those other groups.

But I continued holding forth as  a ULC minister.  At times I would bring out my ordination card and humorously tell my story through the years.   It was usually a a time when someone needed a little religious humor.  A good laugh goes a long way.

Fast forward to the late 1990's.  A friend who had been one of those in need of the humor when he was being defrocked from his church due to his liberal beliefs asked me to perform his wedding. This took my ministry to a new level.  I had to officially register in his county as a "minister of the Gospel."  And of course I had a  Gospel to share!

Weddings beget weddings so another ensued.  But weddings are not my real interest. I'm  more interested in what people believe, the meaning of beliefs and why we believe what we believe. This I hope will be the focus of this blog.   We shall see!

With my friends' wedding I returned to the ULC and after a rigorous exam became a Doctor of Metaphysics so I could understand anything and everything.  More importantly I patted myself on the back (a form of laying on of hands) and became a Bishop, a recognition of my 30 years plus as ordained minister with the ULC.  By the way, I was not ordained by this current fad of on-line ordinations.  I did it by the old fad of snail mail--envelop and stamp.  Ordination papers then were really sealed certificates, not these printed out versions--which are just as legal.

And the ministry continues with support for the orthodox challenged,  the eccentric or free thinker, and those in need of a laugh.

The following link provides an interesting sweeping history of the Universal Life Church--although I can't vouch for it's accuracy.  Some see Hensley as a complete fraud or con artist and others see him a religious seeker.  I'm thinking about making him a  saint.  Saint Kirby!  But I'm having a little trouble. I don't know any miracle he performed.   I haven't heard of anyone healed by him. But there is the story that he liked to say the ULC was the only church ever declared a legal church by the U.S. Court System and so acknowledged by the IRS.  Maybe that's enough.


http://califias.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-universal-life-church.html

Easter 2018

For Easter reading I recommend E. Bruce Brooks' book:  Jesus and After  The First Eighty Years.

The author analyzes the New Testament Canon as a philologist and shows a chronology of canonical writings from the earliest to the latest with interpolations.  He distinguishes alpha Christians (the earliest), beta Christians (the second wave) and even gamma Christians (Gnostic).  The alphas did not focus on resurrection and stressed doing good deeds and keeping the law, with Jesus as their guide to return to God.  Much of Mark is in this vein as is also Epistle of James (to Brooks this is Jacob as a more authentic name).  Paul began his mission before the end of the  Apostolic Age and in fact saw himself as an Apostle by Jesus Christ and is pretty much the inventor of the beta beliefs.  He stressed the resurrection and atonement for forgiveness of sins. 

Brooks shows how the early Christians usurped the Jewish texts for their purposes and how later the beta group usurped alpha writings by insertions for their purposes.  The three epistles of John show this transition well.  

The alpha group was basically a sect of Judaism and even kept some of the writings along side the Torah in synagogues.  With the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. Judaism and the Christian groups became less centralize (not in Jerusalem any more).  Christianity became an almost exclusive gentile religion.  Initially Matthew as Brooks sees it became the most vocal to distinguish the Christian sect from Judaism, not so much as anti-Semitic as pushing for direct ownership of their religion.  There are conflicts back and forth among the alpha and beta groups too.  Each group considered itself the correct interpreter and sent letters to churches admonishing adherence to their views and rejection of the other.  

Brooks' chronology is a little different than what I have seen with other scholars but not so far off. Mark he dates to the 40's and John's Gospel to around the 80's.  Matthew and Luke are in between. But interpolated parts and revisions of all the Canon are at different dates.  

Eventually too Brooks deals with the writings of the Church Fathers e.g. Clement.   I havn't yet finished the book but I will by Easter and will update this blog.  

                                                                                              ----The Bishop