Religion & Spirituality
Visit us at https://www.cartecayumc.org/ Then They RememberedLuke 24:1-12 Why are we here? Almost 2,000 years ago... A man was betrayed, captured and killed; his followers scattered, his mother mourned; hopes were dashed ...and then the unbelievable happened Have you believed the unbelievable, and found it true? That you could find love, or self-worth, or meaning? That your child would look into your eyes and call you Mamma or Dadda? That you would look into the mirror and see your mother or father? Have you ever doubted the words of someone you trusted, because they were too bad, or good, to be true? A Catastrophic Joy... Why do we have no word like "catastrophe" for something good? Could it be that life hasn't caused us to need one? J RR Tolkien: "I coined the word 'eucatastrophe': the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears... because it is a sudden glimpse of Truth, ...that this is indeed how things really do work in the Great World for which our nature is made.” - Letter 89 But we need a better word. Redemption, maybe? ...at Odds with the World Why Mary was disbelieved: Not just because of the legal disregard of women, or even pure chauvinism But because this is not the way the world works, but we feel it should! Why did Peter (and John) not fully believe? Mary and the women REMEMBERED, and they saw the light at the end of the tomb, but the “menfolk” were still “stuck” at Golgotha, in the land of shattered hopes and dreams. Why are you here, some on most Sundays, some for the "high" holy days? Not just because "I was made to come," surely But because: You have seen the brokenness of your work, maybe even yourself And a part of you cries out for the "happy ending," the sudden undoing of the catastrophes of our lives, the healing of the harms and hurts, the world to be as your heart cries out that it should be What is the promise of Easter? That on that most blessed of mornings, the world finally worked as it ought to! That on a blessed morning to come, the ways of this broken world will change, heaven and earth will join, and Joy will come! And that until that day, our calling is to look upon the brokenness, the hurts, the little and large catastrophes of our lives and of those around us and proclaim that this is not how it has to remain! And to each day, and with the Spirit's guidance, help each other and all of those in this world full of brokenness and hurt, to REMEMBER Christ’s promise, and to see the Lord!