The Bible indicates that there was considerable confusion following the empty tomb.

What did it mean?

There was as much argument as agreement. It took time to make sense of this momentous event. Understanding the resurrection was a gradual thing, coming through all kinds of partial realizations and discoveries.

Sometimes I think our faith is shaped more by Cecil B. DeMille than Jesus Christ. The truth of God’s triumph of love revealed at Easter was, I am deeply convinced, not the dramatic hoopla we have turned it into. It took time, years of conversation, years of faithful worship, years of shared experiences with other pilgrims on the way.

Two men are walking to Emmaus, trying to make sense of it all, and in the breaking of the bread, a holy glimpse, a numinous moment that guides them to the truth.

Another finds that in serving others, in feeding the hungry, reaching out to the poor and lonely, she is reaching out to God.

Faith grows slowly, subtly, with numinous nuance rather than Cinemascope spectaculars.

Why are we so reluctant to understand this? Why must we continue to demand that God work the way we want God to work....with instant solutions and effortless actions on our part.

We love Easter Day but six weeks of Lent is a bit of a drag. People flock to Christmas Eve worship in order to coo at the cradle rather than follow the cross.

We want a faith of easy answers and ready-made remedies.

Instead, Christ calls us into the complexities of life.

Is it any wonder such an invitation has such few takers?

Is it any wonder Christianity has become so un-Christian?