The Resurrected Life, Part 4: Getting to Resurrection in the Larger Community

Rev. Erik Swanson
May 25, 2025

There was a powerful story in the news last week about a historic antebellum mansion in Louisiana. This mansion was once celebrated for its beauty and grandeur but was now engulfed in flames. While some mourned its loss as a cherished wedding venue, others pointed out its darker history as a plantation built on the suffering and enslavement of Black people. This contrast highlights how symbols of the past can hold very different meanings depending on one’s perspective. The mansion's website, notably, emphasized its architectural beauty and trees but made no mention of the enslaved people whose labor sustained it — an omission that reflects a broader societal tendency to whitewash painful truths.

Resurrection Involves Systemic Transformation

This moment prompts a deeper question: What does resurrection look like in the context of such history? I believe there’s a parallel between the literal burning of the plantation and the metaphorical need to "burn down" outdated, racist, and oppressive systems in society. Resurrection, then, is not just about personal or spiritual renewal—it must also involve systemic transformation. Ignoring history or merely reforming existing systems is not enough. For true change, the old structures must be dismantled so something more equitable and just can emerge.

Clearing Space for Something New

We need to address today’s broken political, economic, and social systems — the widespread injustice, income inequality, the failures of healthcare, and the pervasive influence of corporate and military power. I wonder whether the current administration, despite being morally and politically flawed, might inadvertently be clearing space for something new by exposing and destabilizing corrupt systems. This isn’t meant to be a hopeful endorsement but rather a cautious curiosity: Could even destructive forces be used by God to make way for resurrection?

Making Resurrection Real: A Call to Action

Drawing on scripture, we recall Jesus' prediction of the temple’s destruction—a structure that seemed indestructible and central to life at the time. Yet even that needed to fall to make space for something new. Similarly, the systems that uphold injustice today — racism, greed, inequality — must also be brought down if resurrection is to be real. I want to make clear that this is not a call to literal violence. Instead, it is a spiritual and societal call to action — a commitment to sustained protest, deeper systemic change, and radical love.

Doing the Hard Work of Resurrection

The Kingdom of God, as Jesus described it, offers a vision where compassion, justice, and equity prevail over profit, power, and exclusion. To make this vision real, people of faith must do the hard work of resurrection: confronting painful truths, sacrificing comfort, and committing to long-term transformation. The image of the burning plantation becomes a symbol — not of destruction alone, but of the possibility for a new and more just world. The question that lingers is whether we will be content mourning the loss of beauty and tradition, or whether we will join the work of building something truly new.