An Insurrectionist Manifesto—Preparation, not for the resurrection, but for the insurrection of Easter Sunday

The extinguished candle on the communion table

Every year on Good Friday evening we hold a service of communion (which you can read at this link). At the point Jesus breathes his last breath (on page 8 of the service) I extinguish the candle and lay it down on the communion table.

Jesus died and no resurrection followed.

Given this it might seem that the sadness and loss we remember at this moment might seem final and total. But, although it is true that there was no resurrection — Jesus remains peacefully buried to this day beneath some unknown Palestinian garden — there did follow an insurrection and it is for our own coming insurrection that we are preparing this Easter and which will be the theme of this Sunday's service. In my address I'll be drawing on some of the insights and suggestions found in the following recent book published by Columbia University Press. I look forward to seeing you on the day or, perhaps, hearing from you later on:

An Insurrectionist Manifesto

Four New Gospels for a Radical Politics

by

Ward Blanton, Clayton Crockett, Jeffrey W. Robbins, and Noëlle Vahanian

Foreword by Peter Rollins

 Preface by Creston Davis

 Afterword by Catherine Keller