The folks at Tim Horton's this morning loaded up my thermos with caffeinated coffee. This is not a good idea when you are a decaf only person. I get hyper, sort of swear a bit more, and then "crash" in the afternoon.

I'm a bitter.

Lately, I have brought my decaf from home however our french press cracked when I was using it this morning. Coffee all over the floor, all over my pjs. All over!

I was not meant to consume coffee today, I recognize, in retrospect. That said, I have neither im nor exploded. At least I haven't yet. And I really want to be awake for tonight's Maundy Thursday service at Bloor Street United.

I've always revered Maundy Thursday, and, if anything, I think it is a better day for Christians to have as a Holy day than Easter Monday. We commemorate the Last Supper and the origins of the sacrament of Communion along with the more sombre events that unfold after that Pesach meal. (See Matthew 26:1-56; Mark 14:1-52; Luke 22:1-46; John chap.11, 12:1-11, 18:1-12.)

In the past week, I have had the opportunity to reflect on Christ's sacrifice and its meaning, both at church and at work. (I work in the General Council Office and we have chapel every Wednesday.)  Both reflections pointed in the same direction: Christ's activism. And both confirmed my own feeling that we -- Christians -- are the Risen Christ.

The United Church of Canada approved A Song of Faith at the 39th General Council, as one of our statements of belief. It's six pages long, and I encourage you to read it, and reflectt on it daily, perhaps breaking up stanza by stanza, similar to reflecting on Buddhist koans or the Tao Te Ching.  

Back to my point, the text states, "The Risen Christ lives today, present to us and the source of our hope."

My question, which is unanswered in the song, is how does the Risen Christ live today? Well, the next stanza points to it, but does not explicately point towards -- that would be a politically dicey situation for the more literal congregants of the UCC -- the church.

We are:

...a church with purpose:

   faith nurtured and hearts comforted,

   gifts shared for the good of all,

   resistance to the forces that exploit and marginalize,

   fierce love in the face of violence,

   human dignity defended,

   members of a community held and inspired by God,

      corrected and comforted,

   instrument of the loving Spirit of Christ,

   creation’s mending.

I know I am taking a few logical leaps here, but wouldn't the "church with purpose" and the "instrument of the loving Spirit of Christ", celebrate the "God the Creator, the Maker and Source of all that is"?

I know this needs research, and I have to revisit my training in formal logic. I plan to explore the church as the Risen Christ more in the future -- it needs more research. Regardless, this iteration of the Risen Christ brings me hope. We have opportunity to walk Christ's walk and live as he taught us: authentically and with compassion. It is not an exclusive institution, although it is one that requires faith.