“For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.”  (I Corinthians 15:16-20) Paul continues to address the multiple problems of the early church in Corinth.  Here is a fight about doctrine and the full implications of Jesus’ resurrection and out own.  What stands out to me this week are not so much the specifically doctrinal issue (Christ is raised and therefore we too shall bodily rise in the last day.) but the pastoral implications of such a doctrine.  And namely that is this:  do we treat one another as those who shall be raised?  Do we see the promised and potential glory in one another?  As so often the case, it seems to me, C.S. Lewis said it best, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” (The Weight of Glory)  Do we treat the homeless and others of seemingly little importance as such remarkable creatures?  Do we warn one another when we do not?  In other words, does our orthopraxis match our orthodoxy?  The two are meant to abide together and John Wesley could never imagine sacrificing one for the other.  All this Epiphany focus upon Jesus’ glory is much simpler when we confine it to him, isn’t it?  It becomes downright troubling doesn’t it, when we begin applying it to one another? Our Lord has overcome death and you and I are invited to start living in the power of that.  You and I are invited to treat one another in this life as those who shall be raised in the next.  I know, that is a big challenge, isn’t it?  However, you and I have been given a far greater promise: the presence of our resurrected Lord who has overcome all things, even death, itself.  Have a great week!