Resurrection & Crucifixion Pt 2

Do you think the crucifixion is going on, but not the Resurrection? Alternatively, do you think the Resurrection is achieved by our own power, as if making it happen is on our shoulders? Do you think life is restorable without struggle, and do you deny that Jesus is crucified anew?

If the proper response to life were EITHER horror or joy, then it would all be easier. But, that isn't the Gospels, and certainly is not the Epistles. (Could we live a Crucified life only and live out 1 Peter or live a Resurrected life only and love out Corinthians?) The harder proposition, the more challenging one, is finding joy in the midst of life's sorrows without denying them, and taking suffering with the utmost seriousness without failing to recognize the gift God gives in the midst of it all. At best most of our lives will be spent hopping from one foot to another. But the goal, which can only come by an act of Grace and our own broken acceptance of it, is to walk on water in the midst of the storm, and to die and be reborn daily. At best we get it only for moments but it can't be cultivated in any way, the Grace can never be received, if we focus our lives on only the one or the other. This is why theologies of the Cross and theologies of Glory are always on their own incomplete. Everyone is going to emphasize one or the other more, and who could deny that the substance of mine is more the former than the latter. But a theology of Glory, of the Resurrection has its place and it must be pointed out that it is the dominant Gospel theme. 

Peace outside the storm is easy. Joy within the midst of suffering is hard. Anxiety in the storm is easy. Recognizing the cross outside the storm is hard.