Standing with our community

I envy the women at the tomb. Really? you might ask. Why is that?

The women are facing a difficult, deeply traumatic experience. Their dear friend, Jesus, has been cruelly executed. Life looks very different for them now. But they are stumbling through this experience together. Each woman has a small community of others who understand, the nuances of what it means that Jesus, their teacher and friend, has died.

This is how God created us to live: in close community with other people, sharing the sorrows and joys of our lives. Life’s most joyous times are enhanced by this kind of mutuality, and the most trying days are eased by knowing that we are not alone. Perhaps we are all the women at the tomb, standing with our community in moments of sadness, exultation and ordinariness.

The message is an excerpt from “Women at the tomb” by Jordan Miller-Stubbendick in the April 2020 issue of Gather magazine. Today we remember Mary Magdalene, Apostle.

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