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Owing God a Resurrection  I just finished my latest theatre project, directing a production of William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker for the Lawrence Community Theatre. The play accurately dramatizes Annie Sullivan’s work with the blind and deaf Helen Keller. In the play, the young, brash Annie twice makes the statement: “I think God owes me a resurrection!”, as she ponders how to go about finding a way to communicate with Helen. Later, a determined Annie adds: “And I owe God one.” Indeed, the fact that this play depicts a resurrection story helped me to rationalize that its performances during Holy week (but not on Easter Sunday!) were appropriate for me.  We don’t get to hear a great deal about success stories, in which people who are suffering, disabled, or otherwise forgotten are provided with needed love and support. One of my favorite stories is about Eugene, a person in Pittsburg, Kansas who has lived his whole life in a care facility for the developmentally disabled. We discovered that Eugene, who possesses very limited verbal skills, has extraordinary skills in putting together picture puzzles. He is capable of doing a 100-piece puzzle in about 30 minutes! Soon, puzzles were being donated just for Eugene, who was filled with excitement as he worked on them feverishly throughout Sunday school and worship time. Similarly, Eugene loved picture calendars. Once that word got out, enough calendars were donated to give Eugene a new one every Sunday after church. His happiness in receiving those gifts was infectious, lifting the spirits of those of us who were around him.  Owing God a resurrection – what an interesting concept for us to ponder. When the resurrected Jesus appears to the disciples, he offers them his Peace and then breathes on them the Holy Spirit, and in so doing provides the breath of  life for the church. As members of the body of Christ, as members of the church of Christ, we are each charged with living out that which Jesus embodied for us in his ministry. Reaching out to Eugene offered to him a level of dignity and respect not previously experienced. There was a kind of resurrection in that, especially for those people who reached out with puzzles and calendars. We owe that to God. God calls upon us to reach out to and care for those around us whom the world pushes back and pushes around. We owe God such resurrections.         - Pastor Piet - April 30, 2006