"When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body." (Mark 16:1)

Imagine with me how those women must have felt when they came to the empty grave that first Easter morning.  Let's try to put ourselves in their place.

A close friend has just died and we are overcome by grief. We cannot imagine life continuing without the friendship, the love, the talks, the sharing we had experienced together. As friends, we decide to visit the cemetery, bringing flowers for the grave. We walk quietly toward the gravesite, sharing memories of time spent with our mutual good friend.

Suddenly, looking ahead, we see fresh dirt all over the place and a huge gaping hole in the ground. We peer into the hole, and the casket is open.and empty!

As we stand at the open grave, barely breathing, looking at each other in turn, we notice something. An angel is sitting on a rock nearby. We stare at the angel with frightened eyes as these words are spoken: "Your friend is alive again." Well, it's unbelievable! Eerie! Scary! What should we do? Stand there and smile? Dance a bit or sing a song? Not me. Run. That's what my gut is telling me. Run. Dead people simply don't rise again.

Thinking in this way, we can understand the reaction of the women at Jesus' grave on the at first Easter. Fear. Trembling. Bewilderment. Disbelief. The desire to run. We can also understand each others' varying reactions to the proposition of expanding our vision of ministry to include new people in our church family and a new way of looking at ministry possibilities with the land that they offer. Fear. Trembling. Bewilderment. Disbelief. The desire to run.

But notice one important thing: It WAS true! Jesus was alive! Light won out over darkness. Heaven conquered hell. And we gained eternal life! From something filled with struggle and pain has come our salvation! And, as an old, downtown church with no neighborhood, no growing room, and a seemingly limited future has come our salvation, too! BOTH ARE GROUNDED IN JESUS CHRIST! It IS time - not for running away - but for singing and dancing and for carrying the Resurrection Message to new generations! Hallelujah! Christ is risen indeed.

~ Pastor Linda