test 2

Crete, Greece. Image by Giuseppe Milo

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A GREETING
You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy.
(Psalm 16:11)

A READING
Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
(John 20:11-20)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
(Psalm 90:4)

A REFLECTION
Every day, on the cusp of the future, what stories do you see unfolding at the ragged edges of damage, grief and the hope for healing? What seeds beyond the seeds you yourself planted are sprouting up in the open cracks between fear and the possibility of trust? Where is the heart within the heartbreak? Where is the dignity buried within many layers of indignity? Who is just barely catching their first breath of new life within the end of the old? Or could be? And, how are you going to tell the story?
- from the 'Postlude,' by Nancy Vernon Kelly,
found in her book Here Be Wonders

VERSE OF THE DAY
Remember I am with you always, to the end of the age.
(Matthew 28:20)

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Image by Giuseppe Milo

“Supposing him to be the gardener….” Mary Magdalene's journey from darkness into light in the first hours of the third day since Jesus died brings her back to the garden tomb where they had laid him to rest. She is confronted immediately by a sign offered by Creation itself: a heavy stone has had the power to move, a dark space has been brightened by holy light. Creation participates in the moment of revelation. Mary sees a figure she does not recognize and calls him the gardener. In her time, a gardener was one who cared for the sacred groves around the tombs of revered leaders. Common criminals would not likely have had tombs. Perhaps the arrangement made by Joseph of Arimathea was not just to be able to take Jesus' body, but to have a preferred place to lay him. Thus, it would not have been surprising for Mary to encounter a gardener. Jesus calls Mary by name. The 'gardener' knows her name and she then knows him also. Mary's seeking of Jesus' body echoes and reframes the search a woman makes for her beloved in the Song of Songs. "‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves? (3:3)" and "when I found him whom my soul loves, I held him, and would not let him go. (3:4)" Here, Jesus tells her not to hold him in the sense of human embrace, making clear that the fully human Jesus has left. Instead, he teaches her and us how to hold him in our hearts. Whereas the women and Joseph and Nicodemus had reclaimed his body, Mary is now reclaimed by God and by Jesus who, as the psalmist says, first knew her when she was woven in the womb of the earth.

The body of Jesus, which had been so tangible to Mary the day before as she and the others bathed and anointed him, is now transformed. A succession of moments of extravagant love have led to this resurrected Jesus who belongs to a non-corporeal but still earthly realm. Even just in these days: the anointing by nard, the bathing of feet, the carrying and anointing of the body have all led to this moment. We can imagine her running back through the streets to tell the others, barely able to breathe. Love has been transformed and is transforming and will always be doing so. Jesus will always be love that transforms, living on in each of us from one generation to the next.

On Easter, we celebrate this risen Jesus, who knows each of us by name and who sees us in the whole of our lives, from our birth to our death and beyond. But what happens now? As Easter celebrations subside back into the patterns of daily life, how will our earthly Creation home know that we have been transformed by our journey to the Cross? What hope will there be in the dawn of new Creation for the polar bears and the glacier finches? How will the currents of the seas that have been swimming since time immemorial be affected by deep sea mining?

Whether it is through the gift of song, of protest, of educating ourselves and others, the transformative love of Jesus compels us to action. We can and will change the world, one small but profound loving act at a time. May it be so.

Blessed Easter!


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A STORY OF ENDURANCE
The white-winged diuca finches -- also known as glacier finches -- nest in the ice of glaciers in the Peruvian Andes. Their nesting cycle is dependent on the ice lasting long enough for the fledglings to be ready to leave the nest. In a time of global warming, that timeline is becoming more precarious. The sun is our great source of life, but in man-made climate catastrophe, the sun is also the hidden accomplice to the damage that takes place. And yet, the birds endure. How can we help make it easier for them and for all God's creatures?


ENCORE MUSIC
You are invited to sing along with the words on the screen.


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Resources in today's devotion:
Scripture passages are taken from the New Revised Standard Version.
For more on the glacier finches, go here.

This marks the end of the LC† Streams of Living Justice devotional series. Many thanks to all who participated. Grateful thanks to those who wrote comments on Facebook or emails with feedback. Your stories uplift us! Gratitude to all who shared the daily pages on their social media. May the peace of the risen Christ be with you this day and bless you always. See you in the summer!

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LC† Streams of Living Justice is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!