fear – Page 3 – Salvaged Faith

Them, Too!

Posted on January 26, 2015Leave a comment

When I was looking at seminaries, two of my top schools were in Chicago right across the street from one another in the Hyde Park neighborhood. My mom and I went to visit and we started to imagine what life would be like if I was there. My brother, Tony, was also attending school in Chicago at the Illinois Institute of Technology – right near the White Sox stadium. I started envisioning hopping on the L and going to visit him and all of the possibilities.

But I remember as my eyes lit up, my mom looked back at me with a tiny bit of fear in her eyes. “Katie Marie” she said. “I don’t want you traveling alone in that part of town.”

It was hard enough to send her son to the big city… but her daughter?

We ALL have some definition of what “that part of town” is like. But it is different for each of us.

For some of us, “that part of town” is the street where all the shops are boarded up and folks loiter on the corner.

For some of us, “that part of town” is full of expensive houses and we might get pulled over because of the color of our skin.

For some of us, “that part of town” is where we read about shootings and crime.

For some of us, “that part of town” is where we were a parent or relative was spit on or discriminated against.

It is the place where people aren’t like me. Where we are afraid of what might happen to us if we went there. It is the place where we just can’t wrap our minds around what life must be like there.

And the truth is, we all live in somebody else’s “that part of town.” Or “that part of the country.” Or “that part of the world.”

Each of you were handed this morning a slip of paper.

I want to invite you to take it out right now and hold it in your hand.

This morning, I want to invite us to think about those places where we refuse to go. The people we aren’t sure we want to talk to. The situations we would rather keep our distance from. Maybe it is because you have been hurt. Maybe it is because you are afraid.

This is just for you… not for anyone else to see or read… and what I’m going to ask is not going to be easy.

I want to invite you to write on that paper a place that you stay away from. I want you to think about someone you have intentionally not tried to build a relationship with and write their name. I want us all to spend a minute or two in silence as we reflect and are honest with ourselves and with God. What people or places come to your mind…

[ pause ]

That might have been the longest minute some of us have ever spent in worship. I know that wasn’t an easy exercise and I thank you for giving us that time.

Now, fold up that paper and hold it in your hand.

I want you to know that you are not alone.

We all are afraid at times.

We all hesitate to go to certain places.

We all have baggage and prejudice and facts and excuses and our reasons for staying away.

You are not alone.

In fact, Jonah, is just like each of us.

If he was with us this morning, Ninevah would be written on that sheet of paper.

The city of Ninevah was full of horrible, terrible people.

In the book of Nahum the prophet, chapter 2 and 3, we read about their misdeeds:

“Doom, city of bloodshed – all deceit, full of plunder: prey cannot get away. Cracking whip and rumbling wheel, galloping horse and careening chariot! Charging calvary, flashing sword, and glittering spear; countless slain, masses of corpses, endless dead bodies – they stumble over their dead bodies!”

That’s not a pretty picture!

It’s not surprising that Jonah doesn’t want to go.

How would you feel if God asked you to go to this violent, wretched city and tell them all they were about to be destroyed by God’s wrath?

Jonah bought a ticket and headed as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

Well, if you remember the story of Jonah, that didn’t work out so well. He got kicked off the ship, swallowed by a whale, and spit up on the shoreline.

And finally, reluctantly, with fear and trepidation in his heart, he goes.

He goes to “that part” of the world. To “those people.”

He goes to the city and preaches a one sentence sermon:

“Just forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown!”

He repeats it over and over again as he walks across the city.

Think about “that place” you have written down.

Could you do that?

Not just go to that place you fear, but actually proclaim their destruction?

I think the core of this one sentence sermon was the message that all was lost.

The people were too far gone.

They were just too terrible and God was ready to wipe the slate clean.

And Jonah thought so, too.

He thought the world would be better off without them in it.

What a terrible thing to say.

And yet, if we thought long and hard about the people and the places we have written on our little scraps of paper, I wonder if that phrase maybe had crossed our mind the past.

Anytime we write off someone as hopeless… or treat a community as if it didn’t exist… or think “wow the government would be a whole lot better off if (insert political party here) weren’t around”… we are doing the same thing.

We have done it throughout history… and we have had it done to us.

Whenever the line has been drawn of us/them, good/bad, right/wrong, folks of all sorts of different faith traditions have felt divine calls to pronounce judgment.

The good news is, it isn’t up to us.

Because even when we have declared something hopeless, God isn’t ready to be done yet.

God could have just sent a plague or rained down fire from above upon Ninevah.

But God didn’t.

God called Jonah.

God warned the people.

God gave them a chance.

And even though Jonah didn’t even offer up the possibility of hope in his one sentence sermon of destruction, the people changed their ways.

They repented.

They turned to God.

The entire kingdom, from the king to the lowest in their midst put on sackcloth and ashes.

As Rev. Bill Cotton pointed out in his reflection this week, some translations say even the cattle repented!

Over this season of Epiphany, we have been exploring the light and the dark. We have been wandering back and forth between the two, and one of the things I hope we are discovering is that the dark isn’t a terrible awful place.

There is possibility in the dark.

There are the seeds of creation and re-creation.

And even a place like Ninevah… Even a place or a person like (hold up your piece of paper)… isn’t lost. It isn’t hopeless.

The question is, are we willing to look for the possibility of change?

Will we open our eyes to see the good in a neighborhood or another person?

Will we lay aside our fears and prejudice and assumptions and go to build relationships?

Will we celebrate when we witness transformations?

Will we ourselves be transformed?

Yes, you, too.

Because God is working on your life also. All those pieces of you that are bent out of shape and bruised and dented. You aren’t hopeless either.

So in the words of Christ, “Now is the time! Here come’s God’s Kingdom! Change your hearts and lives and trust in the good news!”

The Long Hurt

Posted on September 11, 2011Leave a comment

The second most difficult thing in the world to do is to harbor anger and pain.

This week, I read the story of a woman who had refused to forgive. As John van de Laar tells the story:

Whenever a visitor came for a cup of tea or coffee, she would pour the drinks and then reach for an old and battered plastic sugar bowl. Then, apologetically, she would tell her story of the beautiful bone china bowl that her mother had owned, but that her sister had taken when her mother died and they divided up her possessions. She had never forgiven her sister, and had turned her bitterness into a daily routine that kept it fresh and growing.

Every single time she reached for that plastic sugar bowl, she rekindled the anger.

She had never forgiven her sister.

Van de Laar goes on to say that we sometimes let “our lives be defined by our wounds.” We spend all of our days looking backwards at what was and refusing to see the possibilities of healing and hope and forgiveness in our lives.

And while on the surface, it may not seem to take much energy or thought, the truth is that refusing to forgive is exhausting. It is a burden that you carry with you every moment. It is bitterness that never leaves your mouth.

As Nelson Mandela once said – “Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die.”

And the only person that it hurts, is yourself.

September 11th, 2001 is a terribly sad and painful day in our history. And on this day, exactly 10 years later, we have a question to answer: How are we going to let that day define our lives?

Is it a wound, perpetually reopened, refusing to let us move forward?

Is it a source of anger and bitterness that causes us to lash out in fear?

Or in the midst of our grief and pain, can we also remember the tremendous acts of courage and love from that day? And can we look not only backwards but also look forward to as David Lose puts it, “a future that is not defined by the calamity of that day but instead is shaped by hope, possibility, and the grace of God.”

That is what forgiveness is after all. It is letting go of the pain. It is releasing the anger. It is refusing to allow what has happened in the past define your future.

Photo By: Alex Bruda

And while hanging on to old wounds might be the second most difficult thing in the world, the act of forgiving is the first.

Forgiving goes against our nature. We want revenge. We want answers. We want apologies. We want justice. We want someone in this world to pay. We want to hold guilt over another person. Overcome by sadness, anger, and pain, we do not want to move on.

As I have talked about many times in these messages – my own extended family is trapped in a pattern of unforgiveness. I, myself, find it extremely difficult to let go of that pain and imagine a future of mercy and love. Even when I find myself getting close to the point where I can, something else happens, another wrench thrown in, that makes saying, I’m sorry and I forgive you, that much harder.

And yet, over and over again, I find these words in the scriptures that say: Forgive.

Proverbs 17:9 – He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or haprs on a matter separates even close friends.

Matthew 6:14 – If you forgive people their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

Colossians 3:13 – Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Mark 11:25 – And when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgiven him and let it go, in order that your Father who is in heaven may also forgive your own failings and shortcomings and let them go.

Luke 6:37 – Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

from Romans this morning: Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

Or the even more difficult passage from Matthew: “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Forgiveness is the most difficult thing in the world to do, and yet over and over and over again, the scriptures command us to forgive.

Why?

Because without forgiveness, there is no life.

Without forgiveness, there is no hope.

Without forgiveness, there is no future.

And we are not talking about the people who hurt us here… we are talking about ourselves.

You see, if debts always have to be paid and sins must always be punished, then there is no hope for us.

And there is no hope for our communities.

You see, a family does not work without forgiveness.

A marriage falls apart without forgiveness.

A church cannot survive without forgiveness.

Even a nation will find itself spinning out of control if revenge and justice are the only goals that it seeks… if it cannot find ways to compromise and show mercy and yes, even forgive.

Left to our own devices, we do not have the strength to do the hard task of forgiveness.

But in the midst of remembering the events of September 11th… in the midst of grieving the destruction and loss caused by four hijacked airplanes and grieving the death and destruction cause by the cycle of revenge that came afterwards… we also take time to remember the events of 2000 years ago.

You see, that is when our ability to truly forgive was realized.

On the cross, looking out on a world of brokenness and destruction, facing his tormenters in the eye, Jesus Christ called down forgiveness and not vengeance. “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

Our future was forever changed through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The wounds that we caused were forgotten. The sins we committed were forgiven. The debts of the past were canceled.

The future of Christ is one of mercy and not judgment, hope and not despair, healing and not violence, abundance and not scarcity, love and not hate, new life instead of death. (from David Lose, paraphrased)

That is the power of forgiveness.

Life, love, hope, healing, mercy.

The most powerful stories that I have heard in recent days are the ones in which loved ones recounted the conversations they had with loved ones who were trapped high above the ground in towers one and two of the World Trade Center.

They are stories full of tears and goodbyes and I love yous. I was driving down the road, listening to a woman tell of the last time she spoke with her husband and I had to pull over, because the tears just overwhelmed me.

But what I realized in the midst of those stories is that not once did those courageous people who died tell their loved ones to seek revenge.

They spent the few precious moments they had saying I love you.

They said, I’m proud of you.

They said, I’m sorry.

They said, All is forgiven.

They said, remember I love you.

And as we remember those who perished. As we grieve… and we must… we also need to look to our futures. We need to put away the wounds.

I we keep pulling out that old beat-up plastic sugar bowl and refuse to seek peace or forgiveness, then evil has already won and we are truly defeated. (van de Laar paraphrased)

It is hard and painful to forgive… and we cannot do it alone.

But the good news is that through the love and grace of Jesus Christ, we can find the strength and courage we need to let go. To admit when we have caused pain. To say, “I forgive you.”

Today, as we remember, let us forgive… and let us imagine together a future in which God’s peace truly reigns.

Fear or Dialogue?

Posted on August 29, 2011Leave a comment

(This is a post I wrote last fall, but for some reason I never published… as we come closer to the tenth anniversary of September 11th, I thought I might go ahead and push the “publish” button)

A sort of running theme here on the blog on the past has been the very simple idea that an idea, a situtation, a truth is not black and white. When there are people involved, when there are feelings involved, when there is history involved, suddenly truth becomes a little technicolor and spins wildly out of control.

I have largely been staying out of the whole “Ground Zero Mosque” conversation, partly because I didn’t have all of the information. And now, the information I get is so wildly varied that I don’t know what to do about it. But I think even beyond that, I’m not quite sure what to say. There are many who have said what I feel better than I possibly could. But not saying anything, means that I am allowing myself to float out there in the nebulous zone of people who don’t care… and that is not at all where I am.

So let’s look a little at the playing field of this technicolor debate.

People on one side of the story are saying that it is “soft jihad” and the people are claiming control of territory they have conquered as a seat of muslim extremism and others claim that by going forward with this sort of community center and interfaith dialogue that Park51 is actually more of an American Muslim jihad against terrorism itself. These things claim exactly the opposite, so which is true?

Some say that it is at Ground Zero – on hallowed ground. Yet, from maps, it is actually 2 blocks away and there is already at least one mosque in the same area. Park51 is actually farther away from Ground Zero than a stripclub – which, by the way, doesn’t appear to have too many problems with the new neighbor. The Associated Press is actually encouraging that we quit referring to this thing as the “Ground Zero Mosque” altogether, even though it was one of the first agencies to begin to use that language.

It’s not entirely accurate to call the place a mosque either. Prayers have been happening at the space since 2009 and while Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf will run the Cordoba House (the multifaith dialogue and community center), the mosque will become a separate non-profit and an Imam has not yet been chosen. The Park 51 site will include a swimming pool, restaurant and culinary school, auditorium, a 9/11 memorial, and on the side, a mosque.

Some believe it is an affront to all of those who died in the attacks on September 11, but as this article points out – survivors are conflicted… and survivors and survivors families were not only Christian, but atheist, and Jewish, and Muslim. To deny a place of worship and prayer for Muslim families who suffered loss and were destroyed by the viscious terrorist attack also seems cruel.

The simple fact is that its complicated. On a pastoral note, I understand that for some, this placement and site is a constant reminder of the roots of the violence that destroyed lives on September 11th. But American Muslims were not the ones who flew planes into the WTC. What we need is more interfaith dialogue and healing, not less. Those who are opposing the site have turned to an attack against Islam itself which only futhers the need for a space in which dialogue and cultural sharing can happen. It seems like we are losing our fundamental ideas of respect and religious tolerance that our nation was founded upon… though has often failed at embodying.

A fellow pastor reminds me that we have turned the construction of this one Islamic center into the center of the much larger debate about the place of Islam in our culture.

While the media has focused on the Ground Zero mosque for it’s symbolism, the fact is that in places like Murfreesboro and Antioch, TN there are even more heated battles over the ability of Muslims to build community centers and places of worship. In these places there is no symbolic consideration, no hallowed grounds to protect. No, the concerns raised are blatant NIMBYism, driven by the same motivations that led Puritans to tie Baptists to dunking stools and hold them under water until they drowned. And as folks search for justifications for their fears, the rhetoric rises and political leaders co-opt those fears for political purposes.

It makes me sick that we are so easily willing to succumb to fears about the other. It makes me just as angry to see the signs of protest waving over these mosques as it does when I see Christians waving around “God Hates Fags” signs.

When Christ encountered those who were different from himself – the Samaritan woman at the well, the adulterer about to be stoned, he told them the truth in love. He was honest with them. He was honest with himself. But above all, he showed love and compassion towards them. He offered them life and he offered them hope. He invited them to travel with him.

Every time that we push someone away and judge without grace, we turn our backs on Christ. Every time we perpetuate lies and encourage others to fear another human being, we turn our backs on Christ. Every time we point out the speck in our neighbors eye without first removing the log from our own, we turn our backs on Christ. I am just as guilty of this as the next. I have as much to confess about my fears and biases and places of intolerance as another. But confess we must. Be truthful we must. We must join together with open eyes and open hearts and be willing to listen.

In a completely unrelated occurance, I stumbled across this video.

http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf

If a dog and an elephant can become best friends and display that kind of trust with one another… and if an old warehouse building a few blocks away from Ground Zero can be transformed to help us do that… then why should we stop it? I don’t know the players involved. I don’t know their hearts, only the intentions that they have publicly stated. But I pray that if they are allowed to go forward with their building that the center has the courage and the strength to help us transform our conversations with Islam in this country and in the world.

Afraid of the Truth

Posted on April 12, 2009Leave a comment

This morning, I invite you to hear our gospel reading with new ears…

Three women made their way to a lonely tomb just after sunrise. The sky still had that rosy pink hue – but instead of feeling warm and comforted, they were reminded of the bloodshed only days earlier.

Never again could they look at a cross the same way again. Before, it had been a symbol of punishment, a tool used by the Romans to keep the people in line. Now, it was where their teacher had been martyred. It stood for all of his truth and goodness and they would forever remember him upon that cross.

They were journeying back to the place where they had laid his body. They were going to mourn but also to honor and glorify his broken body. They were going to say goodbye.

A million thoughts raced through the minds of those three women. Chief among them – what’s next? Would they, could they, return to their old lives? With Jesus dead, there wasn’t really any among the group of disciples who seemed ready to continue sharing his message. For all they knew, the disciples had scattered in the nights before – never to return again. No, it all ended on the cross. All of their hopes and dreams, all of the promises of the Kingdom of God ended on the cross. It was finished.

They brought with them the spices and oils they would need, but as the three women neared the tomb, they began to wonder what on earth they were doing. Were the Romans who crucified their Teacher watching them? What about the Jewish leaders? And if they made it there safely, how were they going to roll back the stone covering the entrance on their own?

Despite their doubts and fears, they kept moving forward, step by step, clutching one another’s hands, until they came to the place where he had been laid.

The stone… That big huge obstacle they thought they would have to overcome. It was gone. And peering inside, a young man sat on the cold hard slab just inside the tomb. What was he doing there? And where on earth was the body of Jesus?

The man looked at them and the women instinctively flinched. He had a strange aura about him and was dressed in dazzling white. They were absolutely speechless.

Don’t be afraid – he whispered to them…. You’re looking for Jesus of Nazareth, but he’s not here! He has been raised, just like he promised. Go – tell the disciples and Peter that he will meet you in Galilee. He’s waiting for you!

The hearts of the women literally stopped beating for a few moments. They had come to honor a dead body and they were met by a mystery. He has been raised?! He’s… waiting for us? Was it a trap? Was it true? Could it possibly be?

It was all so completely overwhelming. They felt like they were standing in the presence of the holy – like Moses before the burning bush – like Elijah standing on the side of the mountain and hearing God’s in the silence… and yet nothing made sense. Nothing that was happening fit with their understanding of the world! If the massive stone could be rolled away without any human effort, if Jesus really was raised from the dead, what other assumptions and truths that they had known would be proved false? If the very power of death had been overcome, what was next? What else was going to change? (Charles Campbell)

The world was turned upside down for these three women by this radically holy encounter. Terror and amazement seized them and they turn and fled from the tomb. Was it unworthiness? Was it the weight of the message that they were called to proclaim? Was it fear and awe that come from being face to face with God’s power? The world may never know. But Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome said nothing to anyone… for they were afraid.

Living, Risen God,
May the words of my mouth be your words, and may I be blessed with the courage to say them.
May the thoughts of all of our hearts and our minds, be your thoughts, and may we be blessed with the courage to live them. Amen.

Christ is Risen! “He is Risen Indeed” Christ is Risen! “He is Risen Indeed!” But Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome said nothing to anyone… for they were afraid.

Believe it or not – that is the way that the Gospel of Mark originally ended. Jesus never shows up in his resurrected glory, there is no witness from the disciples, no sharing of the good news. Mark ends his account of the life of Jesus with three women, fleeing from the scene because terror and amazement had seized them and he tells us they said nothing to anyone.

We, of course, can say this probably didn’t actually happen for a number of reasons. First of all, all of the other gospels have the women speaking. And all of them have Mary Magdalene there at the tomb – witnessing first hand the resurrection of Christ and then sharing that message with the disciples. Secondly, if we believed Mark’s account fully – if that truly was the end of the story – then how did we get here? If they didn’t tell anyone, then how was the church born?

No, Mark has a reason for telling his story this way. Throughout his gospel, Mark is leading us on a journey, following in the footsteps of the disciples. Each and every time the disciples make a mistake and look like bumbling idiots, we learn something more about who Jesus is. Each and every time they fail, we learn more about what it means to follow God.

And this cliff-hanger ending is no exception. Mark tells us the women were afraid and said nothing to anyone… and then we are invited to live the rest of the story.

This morning… after we have encountered together the holiness of God and the miracle of the resurrection… what will we do? Will we let fear close our mouths? Will we roll the stone back in front of the tomb and conveniently forget that this all happened? Will we be silent? Or will we find the courage to risk it all to share this amazing and terrifying good news with the world?

Sharron Riessinger Lucas calls this: living in the tension of holy fear and prodigal joy. We are filled with joy because God has run out to meet us like a father who destroys all barriers in order to welcome home us wayward children! Christ is Risen! Jesus destroyed death in order to give us life! The tomb is empty! Amen!

But in the midst of that joy, there does reside fear in our hearts. We would be foolish not to admit it. Because with the empty tomb comes the amazing and awesome announcement that “Jesus is risen and on the loose in this world” (Lucas). And if God is really out there – really present in this world that we live in… then as the great theologian Karl Barth once said… “each of us has some serious changes to make in our living.”

That is as true in my life as it is in yours. And what keeps us from making those changes and truly proclaiming Christ as a living reality is fear.

We all have fears. I know that they are there, percolating in your throat, ready to cut off the good news. So what better time than Easter Morning to share our fears with one another… here in the midst of these lilies, the alleluias, the sweet smell of spring’s new life (Lucas).

I thought about passing around a microphone and asking you to share your fears… but if I’m going to be honest with myself – most of us would have a fear of standing up and admitting our fears! So here are a few that I have been pondering

We fear speaking on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves, because what if we say the wrong things?

We fear seeking justice for the marginalized and release for the captives, because what if it puts us in danger?

We fear telling the truth, because what if our message is rejected? What if we are rejected?

We fear sharing what we have with others, because what if we don’t have enough?

We fear welcoming the stranger in our midst, because what if they stay?

And I think we fear all of those things, because we haven’t let ourselves fully accept the reality that Christ is alive… not spiritually present, not a memory of the past, but actually resurrected from the dead.

As Charles Campbell puts it – “[Jesus] goes ahead of us into the future to meet us there and claim us, not on our terms, but on his. We can no longer deal with Jesus as a dead body, safely buried in a tomb, but now we encounter him as a living reality. There is no escaping him, no containing him, no forgetting him.”

And if Jesus claims us on his terms… then we don’t need to worry about saying the wrong things because the Holy Spirit will bless us with words. We don’t need to worry about being in harm’s way or being rejected, because we know that nothing in this world, neither angels or demons or powers or principalities, neither life nor death can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. We don’t need to worry about running out of food or money, because we have life and life abundant! And we don’t need to worry about the stranger, because Lord knows, we could use a few more bodies in these pews! I mean… because each and every single one of us is a vital part of the body of Christ. God is in control…

Control is the key word there. We have fear in our hearts because we have come face to face with the holy and we are no longer in control. And any encounter with the holy rightly puts awe and trembling in our hearts.

It is the kind of fear portrayed in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series, as the people rightfully fear and revere Aslan the Lion. He is dangerous, he is righteous and there is no escaping him, no containing him, no forgetting him. He is wild and wonderful.

And the wild and wonderful Christ, who cannot be escaped or contained or forgotten is calling our names and has a word for us to proclaim. That on an old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine, Jesus suffered and died to pardon and sanctify us all….and…. AND… this is the part we leave out of the song… AND death itself has been defeated.

And Mark asks us: when – not if, but when the terror and amazement of the good news seizes your life – what are you going to do?

afraid.

Posted on April 12, 20091 Comment

Never again would they look at a cross the same way again. Before, it had been a symbol of punishment, a tool used by the Romans to keep the people in line. Now, it was where their teacher had been martyred. It stood for all of his truth and goodness and they would forever remember him upon that cross.

They were journeying back to the place where they had laid his body. They were going to mourn but also to honor and glorify his broken body. They were going to say goodbye.

A million thoughts raced through the minds of those three women. Chief among them – what’s next? Would they, could they, return to their old lives? With Jesus dead, there wasn’t really any among the group of disciples who seemed ready to continue sharing his message. No, it all ended on the cross. All of their hopes and dreams, all of the promises of the Kingdom of God ended on the cross. It was finished.

Despite their doubts and fears, they kept moving forward, step by step, clutching one another’s hands, until they came to place where he had been laid.

The stone… That big huge obstacle they thought they would have to overcome. It was gone. And a young man sat on the cold hard slab just inside the tomb. What was he doing there? And where on earth was the body of Jesus?

The man looked at them and the women instinctively flinched. He had a strange aura about him and was dressed in dazzling white. They were absolutely speechless.

It was all so completely overwhelming. They felt like they were standing in the presence of the holy – like Moses before the burning bush – like Elijah standing on the side of the mountain and hearing God’s voice in the silence… and yet nothing made sense. Nothing that was happening fit with their understanding of the world! If the massive stone could be rolled away without any human effort, if Jesus really was raised from the dead, what other assumptions and truths that they had known would be proved false? If the very power of death had been overcome, what was next? What else was going to change?

The world was turned upside down for these three women by this radically holy encounter. Terror and amazement seized them and they turn and fled from the tomb. Was it unworthiness? Was it the weight of the message that they were called to proclaim? Was it fear and awe that come from being face to face with God’s power? The world may never know. But Mary Magdelene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome said nothing to anyone… for they were afraid.