Gethsemane was the moment Christ disappeared into the deep of the night, seeking consolation from his Father. The next day, Christ disappeared into the tomb of Holy Saturday, that he might defeat death and be raised back to life. After his resurrection, he disappeared into the heavens, where Stephen prophesies he is enthroned in glory, to judge the living and the dead (Acts 7:56).
Christ disappeared so that we might see him again someday.
Life moves around us as time ticks away, and we all follow the motions. We constantly disappear and reappear — on cars, buses, planes, and trains, seeking to belong and to become. Today, we disappear, too.
Indeed, we need to remember the beauty of disappearance, and the subtle glory of future-reappearing as we await the second advent of our Christ, who I believe, will make all things right again.
He just needed to disappear first.
Images originally published in my poetry book Eucharist, Womb, and Thin Space, Art & Theology Journal, May 2022 issue
Reading:
Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America by Darren Dochuk (Basic Books)
left behind by Amar Peterman (This Common Life)
Watching:
Ted Lasso: Season Two (Apple TV+)
Listening:
Stick Season by Noah Kahan
De Todas las Flores by Natalia Lafourcade
Baptized Imagination by Kings Kaleidoscope