Bishop Lane's Easter Message

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John

I’m always so touched by the reading from John about Mary at the tomb. She’s responding to death in the way we’ve all learned to respond to death. She’s preparing her beloved’s body for burial, all but overcome with grief. She has no expectation of, no reason to expect, the resurrection. Her grief-stricken responses to the empty tomb, to the angels, even to Jesus, resonate with me, represent me – all of us.

Ross Douthat, columnist in the NYT this week, called the story of the resurrection the strangest story ever told. It overturns every expectation, every human experience. It can only be met as the Gospel writers tell us it was met – with joy and fear all mixed together. Joy – in our hope against hope that the resurrection is true. Fear – in the realization that the resurrection changes everything about life in this world, and that we have to change, too.

For Mary, the truth of the resurrection was found in the voice of her teacher calling her name. The Church has confirmed that truth through the ages in the experiences of the faithful who have heard the voice of their savior in their own lives. What is required of all of us at Easter – and all the time – is to listen, to open ourselves to the possibility of new life, to be attentive to the signs of renewal and transformation in our daily lives.

How has our savior spoken to you? Where has your heart been caught by joy and fear all mixed together? In your relationship with your beloved? In the birth of a child? In the beauty and tenderness of the first signs of spring? In the sickness and death of someone close to you? In the valor and sacrifice of people seeking justice and peace?

The cynicism of our time discourages belief, invites us to question every revelation, denies there is anything to hope for. May this celebration of Easter encourage you to open your heart to the possibility of renewal and transformation. May you listen for the voice of our savior speaking to you. May you find new life.

God bless you. The Lord is risen!

+Steve