Louisville Process Theology Network

The Promise of Easter

Mar 25, 2010

What is time? Stripped to its essentials, we would describe time as the passage of events or occurrences. One of these occurrences is our lives, or lifetimes, which is one reason why all of us are so interested in time.

We are especially interested in eternity, which is time without end. Many of us were raised on the traditional Easter message wherein Jesus promises us life without end.

A process theology view of eternal life might take the traditional message and expand it by adding what humanity has learned from religion and science since Biblical times. Consider, for the example, the continuous growth of evolution, the diverse perspectives of relative motion, and the free will of Quantum mechanics.

Taking in ancient and modern ideas and discoveries, we might see each individual body, mind, and soul as the unique creation of the eternal physical and mental processes of the cosmic existence; the varieties of creation being endless.

Each one of us participates in the creative process by continuously making choices during our lifetimes that are added to the eternal experiences and knowledge of the cosmic existence. We make a difference, individually and together.

In so doing, we share and become part of the eternal. We become part of Heaven.



In the graceful verse of Wendell Berry --

We clasp the hands of those
who go before us,

And the hands of those who
come after us,

We enter a little circle of
each others' arms,

And the larger circle of
lovers,

Whose hands are joined in a
dance,

And the larger circle of all
creatures,

Passing in and out of life,

Who move also in a dance,

To a music so subtle and vast
that no one hears it,

Except in fragments.