Death before life.

I'm so stuck on this "death before life" thing. It is just burning in me, lately! It seems everywhere I look, and every thoughtful conversation I have, points me to death and resurrection! I still don't think I've really said it clearly (maybe I'm still working it out) so I'm going to have another crack at it.

I think it's the absolute centre of this "following Jesus" thing. (Duh! I hear all the Christians say... Jesus died for our sins etc. etc. .... ) Well... yes. But I'm not talking theology or doctrine here - I'm talking about stepping into the real - & when Jesus died and rose again, He was showing us the way there.

Christians have symbols like baptism (you get pushed under the water, to symbolise death - & when you come up again it symbolises a new life), use terms like "born again" which is supposed to imply the start of a completely new life. The language of death and resurrection permeates all the Christian traditions I know. But somehow it often seems to get watered down to mean more like "a

Mud.

I often have the most awesome thoughts first thing in the morning, when I am half awake. Maybe things have been sorting themselves out in my sleep. Maybe it's because I'm relaxed enough to be listening? Anyway, since the "dying" post, I have been thinking more about how God seems to do things. Using death to bring life is, in so many ways, how "God stuff" happens. He has a way of taking stuff that stinks - & turning it into something beautiful. He doesn't throw away our mistakes - He transforms them.

This isn't "Plan B" because we humans messed it up. It's the way God is! Look at the very beginning of the Bible narrative - God took dust, breathed on it, and made man. I'm no Hebrew scholar, but someone once told me that the Hebrew word we translate as "dust" can also be translated as "rubbish". So, according to the Bible (which also affirms us as incredibly, sacrificially valued and