New Life 032308

John 20:1-18

(Disembodied voice)Angel Janet: Why are you crying?

Mary Margaret: It’s bad enough he’s dead, but now someone’s taken the body and I’m deprived even of that. One last thing I could do for him, and now I can’t. I feel so lost, so full of losses—I’ve lost a friend, I’ve lost a way of life, I’ve lost the sense of purpose I had. I’ve lost the stimulation and adventure of life. So many losses. An empty tomb, a big hole in the ground, and in my heart.

(pause) Jesus Tom stands: Why are you crying?

MM: Did you take his body away? Is this some kind of early April fool joke? I’m so mad at this! We had such a good time together. And we had great dreams of the reign of God coming into the world. I was so sure when he talked about the God-life being among us already, you could feel it in him. And I could feel it in me. Shattered dreams. And now I have no idea what to do next.

(quietly) JT: Mary. You’re caught in a spiral between the past and the future. Now is what counts. You’re focused on the past, on your memories, and you’re worried about the future, which isn’t even here yet.

MM: But it’s over. There is no future. What’s the point? What do you know about it anyway? You have no idea.

JT: (a little louder) Mary. I DO know.

MM: Jesus, is that you? I can’t believe it. I didn’t recognize you.

JT: Grief and fear do stop us from seeing clearly. Naturally you feel both, grief over the past and fear over the future.

But we can’t go back into the cemetery of the past. The tomb is empty. And you’re spending too much energy planning for what will or won’t happen next when your plans are thwarted. This moment is what counts for now. Life isn’t a rehearsal for some future performance. This is it. Life is now.

Reliving history and devising the future take up too much of your time—as a future writer will say, "time is not a straight line along which we travel, but a deep dot in which we dwell". (Sue Monk Kidd, When the heart waits)

MM: But there’s something different about you too. It’s not just me.

(amused)JT: Death’ll do that to you. But seriously, I am different. I’m being birthed into something new. And you are too. That’s what this day is about, this moment. It’s not about whether the tomb’s empty, or what scientifically happened. It’s about new life. Changed life, different life. It’s about encountering me in a new way.

MM: then there’s hope after all. It’s not the end? God’s life really is breaking in on us?

JT: Yes! New life, God’s reign, the kingdom of heaven, God’s dream, whatever you want to call it, IS happening, here and now. Our hope is to make it more and more continuous, present.

But it won’t happen if we stay in the garden, or only come to the garden of new life occasionally to remember a long ago event. We must live it all the time. Carry the present garden of new life with us, returning again and again to our center in God, making time for the soul.

MM: So…. Each time I return to my God-center, each time I open up to the Life of God present already, then another hurt place within is healed, another dead spot put behind me, another old assumption left behind?

I’m beginning to see what you mean about a new self being birthed for me too. This feels very different. I probably won’t even recognize myself!

JT: Like the butterfly, our transformation involves change. It’s not easy, and not everyone will understand. Many people prefer dissecting the past and picking at the wounds, or staying stuck in the safe cocoon of old ideas, or worrying so much about the future that they miss this encounter.

AJ: Now why are you crying?

MM: This is marvelous! I think I get it! My wounds turn into wings! I have GOT to tell the others about this!

(Jesus and Mary sit)

(pause) Angel (still disembodied): Why are YOU crying? Hear God call your name, inviting you into this adventure, this birth to a new self, this first step of the unchoreographed dance of God. The tomb of the past is empty. The future is in God’s hands. NOW is the time you have.

May we say Yes! to life, so that our woundedness may become wings, and may Christ be risen in us, so that Christ may be recognized through us.

Amen.