The World Tomorrow meets the Easter Bunny

After a less than memorable week suffering from what in less PC times was called “Delhi Belly”, I woke this morning to a sun-drenched late Summer's day hopeful of a quiet “Good Friday” to aid recovery.

The Good Spirit apparently took pity on me and decided to lend a hand. Overnight some idiot had wiped out a major power pole on the main road, and there's nothing quite as conducive to a quiet day as the complete absence of electricity.

What to do? I pottered around for a while before deciding that there was obviously time to go back to yesterday's unopened Dominion Post and tackle the daily crossword. That accomplished, I flicked through the front sections with their usual excellent coverage of things I'd rather not know about, when my eye fell on the annual Easter homily from the Wellington Council of Churches.

Like everyone else I normally ignore this sort of seasonal fluff, but this case was an exception. The intro to the column begins: “Dennis Gordon, for the Council of Wellington Churches, writes about the significance of Easter.”

There's a photograph of an Orthodox processional, with crucifix aloft, then the headline: “Easter Means Life.”

Down the bottom is a little info on the writer: “Dr Dennis Gordon is an evolutionary biologist and a member of the British-based Society of Ordained Scientists.”
Which is all true and very impressive. But Dennis' potted bio omits the interesting fact that his ordination is as an elder in the Worldwide Church of God.

In fact, I remember sitting through several of Dennis' sermonettes (mumble) years ago. Dennis was by reputation, and clearly still is, a decent, gifted and honest man, if not a riveting speaker, though I've never had the chance to chat with him in person. Just last year he featured in the WCG church magazine Odyssey.

I'll admit to a moment of disorientation anyway. After all, here's a survivor of the Armstrong years, including the vicious anti-liberal “cultural revolution” of 1979 onward, who:

• Describes himself as an evolutionary biologist.
• Is spokesperson for a prominent ecumenical organisation.
• Delivers an Easter homily for the unwashed secular hordes, and
• Belongs to a church tradition that long lambasted “all of the above.”

So, what does Dennis have to say? I regret that the Dominion Post (New Zealand's best daily paper, with only feeble competition from the awful Auckland Herald) usually doesn't place this sort of thing on their website, so a few notes may be helpful.

• No Saints! It's “the first century apostle John” and “the apostle Paul,” which is my enduring preference too – very properly non-conformist.
• A predictable lineup of apologists on parade: C.S. Lewis and John Polkinghorne.
• An unconsciously apt (?) reference to Jekyll and Hyde.
• And a concluding paragraph worth quoting:

“Easter celebrates new life and rebirth, and the beauty of it is that we can get a foretaste of that in the here and now as we experience a turning around and a new outlook on life. The ultimate outcome will be a transformed planet (literally heaven on earth) – something that the rest of the organic creation looks forward to, in a manner of speaking, with great anticipation.”

The World Tomorrow meets the Easter Bunny!

I wonder if Dennis, all those years ago, could have possibly imagined himself promoting an ecumenical “Son-rise service” in the nation's capital. And I wonder whether, next time he steps up on behalf of the Wellington churches, he might like to share the identity of the church of his choice.

Incredibly it's 3.30 and the power is still out. While the laptop still has some battery juice I'm going to shut down and throw digestive caution to the winds: off to find a flat white and a suitably gooey chocolate egg. Happy Easter!