Folding the Ends into the Middle.

Basically, this image of folding the ends of the dough into the middle is a great image for what God does with Jesus' resurrection in our experience of time.

I stumbled on it while preparing a sermon on Revelation 21: 1-6a. In there, a voice from the throne says, "Behold, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end."

I find great comfort in knowing that our God who raises Jesus from the dead is the beginning and the end of all that IS. I think most people agree that there is comfort in knowing that God--however you might define 'god'--is there from the beginning and at our end. It's either comfort or terror, but I choose comfort because of what I know in Christ Jesus.

Anyway, most people believe that God has appointed everything in its direction from the beginning to its end. But most people live day to day as if God is not involved in the L, M, N, O, P of life. Most people live without respect to God in the Middle. God is really isolated at the beginnings and the ends. God has appointed this little creation to run its course, entrusts us with everything, and then promises to show up at the end. We get to live our lives the way we want to, and God will clean it all up at the end. This is the greatest lie ever.

But God wants us to know that he is not only the Alpha and the Omega, but also the Lamda, Mu, Nu, Omicron, and Pi of life. How do we know this? Jesus' resurrection proves this all to us. In the resurrection, the first disciples see what the END of our world will be like: we will have the life that Jesus shares with God right now. That's what was revealed to them that miraculous Sunday. Yet, we continue to live life in the MIDDLE. We're not at the end, yet. We're here where there are wars, famine, droughts, fighting, abuse, slander, libel, adultery, brokenness and hurt. We're in the middle. And many of us wonder if God cares about the Middle or just about the beginning and the end.

God does care because God shows up with the END in our Middle. Here's how--imagine someone kneading dough. I imagine my grandmother at work in the kitchen. My grandmother has the best recipe for butterhorn rolls that we only eat twice a year--at Thanksgiving and Christmas. A butterhorn is a roll all dressed up in butter. It melts in your mouth, and you fill up on them before turkey and stuffing. They're jst that good.

As I grew up and watched her, I noticed a peculiar thing that all bakers do. They take the ends of the dough and fold them into the middle. They do this to help the dough rise. They take each end and fold into the middle. The middle then become the ends and the ends then become the middle. This goes on for a little bit.

It strikes me that this is what God has done for us in Jesus' resurrection. God has folded the middle into the ends, and we are given hope. We're given hope because we see what our future will ultimately be like. It won't be one of pain, hurt, sorrow, and cause for tears. Death is not the final word on us. Death is not the Omega of our life. God is our Omega. God is our L, M, N, O, P because God cares. And this God is the One who raises Jesus from the dead, if you're still wondering who 'god' really is.