Smells Like Old Spirit
Last Sunday evening (Easter) I was talking to a young acquaintance. He asked what I had done that morning. I said simply that I had gone to church. To which he responded

So that's why you smell like old people.

Huh? My daughter isn't old and she went with me.

She probably smells like old people then, too.

Needless to say that took me by surprise. By definition church is "old"; going to church is for "old people?" Even this postModern Boomer had to stop and think about that one for some time this week. Not that I was offended or felt "old." No, it was the opinion of church that took me by surprise. There wasn't even a moment's hesitation in his comment.

Well, church is old. It's been around a long time. It's message has gotten worked over and re-interpreted and filled with all kinds of layers of stuff, most of which is some person or group's opinion. We will not in this life ever get back to the original understanding of meaning. It will never have the youth or surprise that it had on the first Easter Sunday.

This week's Gospel reminds us that it didn't even have it then. Thomas didn't believe when he first heard it. Can you blame him? It is hard to believe. It is not something that can be accepted on anything but faith. A man died and is now alive. He's been here, been seen. No thanks. That's more than I can swallow. Which is NOT a reason to pick on Thomas. He just refreshingly honest.

But when the truth of the resurrection comes crashing through it is exciting. It is life-changing. It is not old and familiar and boring and the same-old-same-old. But that doesn't happen as often or as fully as we would like it to. Even if we are believers I have a hunch that most of us live an unexciting faith life. No wonder it looks and feels "old" to someone on the outside. No wonder people wonder what it is one sees in going to church.

I think it would be safe to say that a faith-life that is always "up" or "exciting" or "high" would be difficult to live with. We would burn out. So maybe it isn't the "exciting" that makes it seem old and stale. It's what it does to sustain us, to touch us and then to touch others. We all probably know the up and bubbly Christian who is always smiling and proclaiming "praise the Lord." People turn the other way. When you meet someone who has that something that comes from somewhere outside themselves as well as deep in their soul, that is probably the person you want to stop and pay attention to.

It is soul- spirit- trust- hope- promise- that I am talking about. It comes when the basic doubts are gone in our lives and we accept that God has done something miraculous not only at Easter but just this morning and then a few minutes later and probably even a few moments ago. Did you see it? Did you hear or feel it? When we do it isn't old. It's real and empowering now.

My young acquaintance will not know that feeling easily. It comes from an openness and a surrender that he may not be willing to make to a power greater than himself. But someday, should he be in the right situation and the right sense of need, it will be there. Maybe he will smell old then, too.