Victoria Scott

In my Easter Sunday sermon, I suggested that there is a rhythm of resurrection. There is a rhythm beating in us, and pulsing through all of creation. It’s a pulse of love. It’s a pulse of non-violent resistance. A pulse of peace and justice. A pulse of compassion and healing. 

We have resurrection accounts in each of the Gospels. In each one there is bewilderment. There is terror and amazement. There is fear. It isn’t immediately clear what has happened. 

In Mark’s Gospel we hear that the women – Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome – have come to the tomb with spices. The stone has been rolled back. There is a young man in white and the women are alarmed. Can you imagine the swoosh of adrenaline, the thump-thump of their hearts?  It’s an unsettling rhythm!  The young man tells them “…you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.” Terror and amazement seize them and they are afraid. Imagine the women, leaving that empty tomb, their pulses racing. Imagine them walking and talking to one another, struggling to find words in their terror and amazement. Imagine them finding a calmness, a steadiness, as talked to one another. Imagine them realizing that that what looked like death was not death, not the end, but change and transformation. Imagine them realizing that love is stronger than the violence that crushed Jesus and broke him. These realizations are a steady pulse. These realizations are the heartbeat of God, beating through all of creation.

This shows us that the rhythm of resurrection isn’t immediately obvious. It takes time to come into step with the cadence of it. We find the steady rhythm of it by pausing when we are afraid and waiting for our racing pulses to settle. We find it by expressing our terror and amazement to one another. We find it by reminding ourselves and each other that love is stronger than fear and violence. 

At Easter we remember an empty tomb and we celebrate that what looked like death was not death: it was change and transformation. We remember and celebrate that love is stronger than the violence that crushed Jesus and broke him. We remember – we feel – the steady and eternal pulse of the heartbeat of God that beats in us and through all of creation. We remember and celebrate that God is with us, always and forever.

Chris is risen, and there is rhythm of resurrection – a rhythm of God’s love – beating in us and through all of creation. It’s a steady pulse, inviting us to pause and find it when we’re afraid and our pulses race, unsteady and erratic. May we all move to the rhythm of God’s love, the rhythm of resurrection, this day, and always, in Jesus name. Every blessing to you and yours this Easter,

Victoria+