a belated easter post

been mulling over my thoughts during this past easter...
i went to my church's tenebrae service on good friday. i love this service, which is rich in symbolism - powerful in the simplicity of the candles and growing darkness in the sanctuary. the silence in which everyone departs is rare in worship; one can meditate on the single candle re-lit at the end of the service, the reminder in the great darkness that there is still hope. indeed one cannot get to the brightness of easter morning without going through the darkness of good friday. i wonder what the intervening saturday was like for the disciples - must have been the worst 24 hours of their lives, full of grief and confusion, which made easter sunday even more bewilderingly joyful and amazing.

the next night i happened to watch v for vendetta. it's an interesting movie; i've got the graphic novel on which it was based on hold at the library. brief synopsis: it is set in futuristic england, a country that is under the strict rule of an oppressive government that exerts its power through fear (a little close to the mark, i'm afraid). anyone that sticks out - political dissenters, homosexuals, other minorities - is "black bagged" by the imposing police force. they arrive in the night, and take people away with a black bag over their head and are not seen again. no one dares resist until "V" a man in a guy fawkes mask comes along, determined to free the people through any means necessary. you could call him a terrorist. natalie portman is evey, a young woman caught up V's mission.

what struck me is the way in which people were taken by the police. the scripture of the previous night struck me - of how they came for jesus in the night. i had long accepted this part of the story in my familiarity with it. this time, an new perspective came to me. but for people who have been and are under the rule of cruel governments where this has happened and still does, for people living in fear, who are unprotected, who are powerless, who are on the wrong side of the tracks - this imagery must hold much meaning for them; that jesus has shared their suffering in this way. and in knowing that Jesus's resurrection is the final word is an incredibly great hope to hold on to. hard for me to imagine, on this side of a comfortable first world democracy. the occasion of easter takes on a greater meaning here.

as for further thoughts on this movie... V asserts that violence is a necessary (and perhaps only) way to conduct a revolution. in the film motorcycle diaries, che asserts that "you can't have a revolution without guns." the story of jesus stand in stark opposition to this viewpoint. when peter defends jesus with his sword, he is rebuked. in addition, V is masked as Guy Fawkes (an 15th century (?) english rebel who attempted to blow up parliament, and V carries out this mission). i think i see what they were trying to do here, in that V represents all the people. but can you truly trust a person when there remains this barrier between? jesus stood behind no mask. he crossed the distance between God and man and became human. ... here is where my thoughts kind of trail off... i continue to think this over. anyway, anyone else there seen this film? thoughts?

perhaps i overthink things, such is the formation from my time at regent. an acquaintance at church who has spent time at regent, jokingly defended her comments to me, referring to me as "a regent person who is all into brokenness and thinking and blablabla." i think she finds me intimidating or something because this isn't the first time she has qualified her comments to me in this way. i find it odd/irksome and a bit unecessary. i don't quite know how to respond in these situations. besides telling her that i think she's going to hell. that, also, is a part of what i learned at regent - who's going to hell and who's going to heaven. what, you didn't take that class? oh, well.