Bob's Blog

Founded in 1880, the Old Dominion Boat Club, in Old Town Alexandria, VA, is a fixture on the Potomac waterfront. Organized by leaders of Alexandria’s civic and social strata for the physical fitness of  men after ‘the war between the states’ (the verbiage used in the club’s writings on their history), the ODBC of today offers a marina, a tap room, and a variety of social events for it’s membership.

Last month, the old boathouse that stood at the foot of King Street for almost 100 years was demolished, and the club has now officially moved into their new building at the foot of Duke Street, near the location where it was originally located more than 135 years ago.

While the Boat Club’s move has been understandably difficult for many of it’s members, as well as for some long-time Alexandrians, in the long run I have no doubt the move will benefit everyone. The city of Alexandria will now prepare the lot on King Street for public use, as the OTX waterfront continues to be developed. The Boat Club will no longer be threatened by flooding, and instead enjoy the beauty of a spanking new facility that will last for another 100 years.

It’s a great Easter story isn’t it. New life! The old being finished and gone, and something new, beginning!

As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing not to like about the boat club’s new building. It’s absolutely beautiful . . . not to mention the fact that the old site will soon be opened up for EVERYONE to enjoy. And when it comes to the newness that we celebrate at Easter, there really is nothing NOT to like there either. Resurrection is all about the promise of life’s victory over death; light’s victory over darkness; and love’s victory over violence. What’s there not to like about that? Who would not be happy living in a world where death, darkness, and violence had no power . . . where life, light, and love were the norm?

But in order for this newness to become a reality . . . OUR reality . . . something needs to die. The old needs to be ‘knocked down’ and hauled away. Yes, we certainly need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, so that we would bring health and wholeness to those who are dying around the world. We need to shed light on evil, and seek to put an end to violence, and war. But to do any of this, we first need to put to death the old life. And that is hard work.

Never the less, this Easter, that’s what I want to be about. I want to work hard to embrace the new, by working hard at tearing down old. And that means that I’m going to have to . . . yet again . . . take a long, hard look at my life, and deal with all the death, darkness, and violence that needs to be bulldozed. I’m going to take a wrecking ball to my harsh words, that tears people apart rather than builds them up; and I’m going to open my eyes to the injustice around the world that holds people back and brings people down. I’m going to spend more time doing things that bring life and light to my life, and that bring life and light to others, by avoiding those who preach hate, teach division, and embrace a worldview that is born in fear and darkness. And I’m going to haul away the violence that destroy’s my soul, and the souls of others – hatred, disrespect, arrogance, and condemnation.

All this ‘old’ stuff needs to go. It needs to be finished and gone; for only then, can the new life of resurrection come. Only then, will I be clothed in the garb of spring – that which brings life, and light, and love . . . to me, and to the rest of creation.

This Easter, that is my prayer for the Church, and for the rest of the world: that we might begin the process of receiving the new, by tearing down the old. This Easter, I want exchange bunnies for bulldozers, so the work of building a new ‘boathouse,’ might begin, in me!