04/20/2025
Unfortunately we lost our internet connection halfway through service. Here is the sermon text:
Through Mary's Tears
Easter, 2025
John 20: 1-18
In all my years of preaching, I don't think I have ever preached on John's telling of the story. I've always been drawn to the other Gosple tellings of the resurrection. But this year, John's, more specifically Mary's story has been calling out to me. There is something about her experience that has made me stop and pause this year. So, if you will bear with me for a few minutes, I'd like to share my reflection on her story though a poem. This is called Through Mary's Tears:
Tears and rain
Years and pain
Forgotten hopes of yesterday
And the abandoned promise of a new way
Dance together as they
Fall upon her cheeks
Vision strained
Hope unattained
All of the dreams that were shared
Dulled by the empire laid bare
Violence for the sake of power
Like the ravenous lion now devours
Alone in the crowd
The song of death rings loud
Its sonorous echo resounding
Against any thoughts of hope rebounding
Stunned and alone, though her tears
She stands to bear witness
In the rising sun of yesterday
Her spirit dances
Set free from the seven chains
That had kept her captive
As the bright and morning star paints its path
In the new day's sky
She followed with intention
Providing and giving attention
She saw as hands touched the hurting
And bread was broken with the ones called undeserving
She danced at the celebrations
Shared weeping tears at the tomb of a friend
Power poured forth like
Water from the rock
Quenching thirst
And giving life
Light burned bright
Not from the palaces' torches
Nor Powers empty promises
Lit by the spark of love in the darkest night
Alone on that hill
The place called The Skull
Her sun finally set
The light burned out
The voices had won
Power perched on its throne
The life giving star had set
Now all swallowed by the shadow of death
The forgotten become the footpath
Steps to be climbed
The voiceless a wall
To keep them quiet
The innocent taken
Disappeared to who knows where
The small and venerable turned away
Their needs called waste
The eyes are gouged of those
Who see things differently
And the words ripped from the poets
And sunrises from the painters
In the darkness of the tomb
On Saturday's night
She weeps for the ones
Who never saw light
Tears for the children
Cogs in a machine's mechanical lies
Tears for the ones
Whose right to fully exist are denied
Tears for the parents
Laying dirt in the grave
The victims of empires greed
In the darkness of the tomb
On Saturday's night
She joins the prophets lament
Grieving a world far from heave sent
The night, like every night
Gives was to dawn
Her tears will not stop her
From what needs to be done
Growing shadows cover the road
More must be done
Has to be done
Keening the mourner’s song
She stops to see
The tomb
empty
The flood gates open
What have they done
Even in death
They reminder her that they have won
They have taken the body
Denied that final dignity
Tears and rain
Years and pain
Forgotten hopes of yesterday
And the abandoned promise of a new way
Dance together as they
Fall upon her cheeks
Her heart broken
Tears and dirt
Drop to the ground
Mix in to mud
Blind in her grief
Memories too fresh
Pain too real
Her rage too heavy
She begins to scream
Burning rage as the One
Who set her free
Why is this happening
Why to me
Her screams thunder with the pain
Of the heartbroken father
The overworked mother
The forgotten child
Her tears pour on the ground
Joining the flood of those before
And those not yet born
The victims of empires war
Those who never knew their home
Ancestors taken far away
Born one way yet truly another
Loving someone misunderstood by the other
Diluvian waters rise
Her tears and her cries
Tears and rain
Years and pain
Forgotten hopes of yesterday
And the abandoned promise of a new way
Dance together as they
Fall upon her cheeks then
Through her tears
She hears
Through her tears
She hears
Her name.
...
Beloved friends, in this season of seemingly never ending Saturday, when we are engulfed in the clouds of this world and our tears of fear and anger, grief and pain can be overwhelming; hold fast to the truth that is found in this day...That when all seems lost....You are seen. You are called by name. You are loved and cherished. You are met in the shadows by the bringer of light. You are not alone You are embrace by the one who calls you beloved. Who calls you by name.
Beloved, Saturday has ended, and together we say, Christ has risen. Christ has risen in deed
