A Moment with our Ministers

Our Easter celebrations are complete: however, as people who follow Jesus, our lives are shaped by resurrection.
Luke writes that, ‘At the crack of dawn the women came to the tomb to care for Jesus.’
Many years ago on Easter morning we followed others in the darkness of the early morning, walking up a hill in Sutton Coldfield, hoping we would find the way in the dark. On that hillside we experienced the morning dawn, a reminder of the first resurrection morning.
This year Easter dawned with hope and pain. We may find, despite the light outside, that we are walking in the darkness of the morning before light dawns. We came to Easter in the brokenness and uncertainty of our world–we can name the pain of ongoing wars, climate crisis, greed, political shifts. And some of us live with those themes of uncertainty and brokenness in our lives– redundancies looming; health crisis roll on; relationships breaking down; age creeps up with its challenges.
What does resurrection mean when our world is shaped by so much pain? Or when we feel so little hope in our lives?
Perhaps the darkness is a detail we need to note. All the gospels record that women went to the tomb before the dawn –in darkness. Perhaps the darkness around the tomb has a gift for us.
Barbara Brown Taylor in ‘Learning to Walk in the Dark’ writes, ‘If it happened in a cave, it happened in complete silence, in absolute darkness, with the smell of damp stone and dug earth in the air. . . . New life starts in the dark.
Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark.’ This pre-dawn time, this time where the hope seems slim, is not the end of the story. If the gospel writers are correct, Brown Taylor is onto something. Perhaps darkness is not an end but is instead a beginning.
The uncertainty the disciples experienced at the empty tomb is not the last word. For them it was the beginning of the journey. After the empty tomb, Mary encountered Jesus in the early morning garden. Jesus found the disciples in a locked room. He met them by a lake in the predawn light after a night of
fishing, and on the road to Emmaus.
The death of Jesus was a reminder of the deep pain of the world. His death points to the pain that is always part of the human story. In contrast, the resurrection of Jesus writes a new chapter in the human story. Brown Taylor also writes, ‘I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again.’
Resurrection reminds us that our lives are the story of hope born once more — even in or especially in — darkness, and Jesus is just ahead of us, showing us the way, or beside us guiding us on our way.
Even after the celebrations of Easter are complete we remember: Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed!

Peace, Martha and David