As we move through the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection each year, we are called into community. Holy Week calls us into community as women, in particular. Women were the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection, the first to share this astonishing news of life and hope with the world.
As you consider your own life, your community may be all that you hoped it would be. Or perhaps it looks very different than you thought it would. Maybe you sometimes long for your community to have a different shape than it actually does.
The women at the tomb learned that resurrection does not happen without death. This can be true for the shape of our communities too. Perhaps we occasionally need to let go of our old or idealized versions of what our communities should look like, so the actual community that nourishes our lives can come into being. We may discover that our communities are broader than we initially imagined them to be.
The message is an excerpt from “Women at the tomb” by Jordan Miller-Stubbendick in the April 2020 issue of Gather magazine. Today is Good Friday. The readings are Isaiah 52:13—53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9 (alternate); John 18:1—19:42.
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