Alleluia Christ is Risen! On Easter morning we must begin with this declaration…because of course this is why we are here…to celebrate the risen Christ in our lives, in our world. But how did we arrive at this news? One way is through the story as we heard it read. And in that reading, the role of the women impresses me. And I am reminded of one of two hymns in the hymnal about women: Hymn 673 (sang first verse) “The first ones ever, oh ever to know, of the rising of Jesus, his glory to be, Were Mary, Joanna, and Magdalene, and blessed are they are they who see.”

The women went to tell others that the tomb was empty – Jesus was alive – but what they said was deemed to be an idle tale.

The women of Jesus time were not held in high esteem. In fact, they were considered to be inferior to men. They were not allowed to read the Torah...the same scripture that Jesus himself studied. One first-century Rabbi wrote:" rather should the words of the Torah be burned than entrusted to a woman." Women were put in the same class as children and slaves...meaning they had little to no rights. In the synagogue they were separated from the men. Men were not to speak to women in public. Women, except in rare cases, were not allowed to give testimony in a court of law.

Yet the writer of each Gospel included the story where the women find an empty tomb. Most scholars believe since this was included in all four gospels, it must have been widely reported and so, even though it was women who were reporting it, it must have happened, could not be denied.

So like Jesus wasn’t it ….to pick the unlikeliest ones with which to share himself ….perhaps a little humor at play….just as he sat with the Simon the Leper, just as he called Zaccheus, the tax collector down out of the tree, just as he called a bunch of simple fisher folk to be his disciples…on the morning of his new life, he chose to reveal this wondrous news to a few women.

And this little group of women had the courage to risk being truth-tellers in a world that did not recognize them as having value. They went against the norms of society in order to give witness to what they had seen and heard. They refused to stay in their place because their commitment to Christ was stronger than their fear of the world.

What kind of tales do we tell today about experiencing the risen Christ or empty tombs? How do we translate that concept into our lives today and how do we share that with others?

A favorite mystery writer of mine is Nevada Barr whose main character in her stories is Anna Pigeon, a middle-aged woman who is a National Park Ranger. But a few years ago Barr wrote a book about her own journey from death to life. It’s title: Seeking Enlightment: Hat by Hat. She wrote that “for all intents and purposes, I’d been my own god. Then, when I married, my husband and I made gods of one another. When these toppled, I fell into a hell that mirrored the definition I’d once been given by a Sister of Mercy: an eternity locked away from the face of God.” She was depressed, divorced, destitute, and desperate when she came upon a church. She said she was drawn not by God but by Hollywood: Loretta Young in The Bishop’s Wife; Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary’s. She would try the door she thought, it would be locked, then, tragically, abandoned by God and people, she would go back to her lonely house. But…the doors were open, and there were four women inside, sitting on the steps leading up to the altar. Most of the light came from candles, and there was a low, compelling drift of medieval choir song. It was just too churchy she thought. She felt self-conscious, superior, intrusive, unwanted, and out of place. She turned to slink away but she says, “Those wily Christians were having none of that. The wretched creatures welcomed me, and I was suddenly stuck in a reality not of my own making.”

So she went to church, hiding among the people, donating to the crafts fair, to the rummage sale, and meeting with a women’s group twice a month. She decided she wanted to be confirmed but told the priest, she didn’t “accept Jesus Christ as her personal savior, didn’t believe the bible the divinely inspired and wasn’t entirely sure about the whole God thing.” Fortunately she says, “Father Andrew had been ending his flock long enough to recognize a lost lamb when one came bleating into his office and put no obstacles in her way.”Her take on church?

It’s a place where you find and adore God in community: with others, through others, because of others, in spite of others. Only by finding this place of human interaction which was focused around the need for the spiritual was I able to recognize God in other people and so, in myself. Community is God, rubbing elbows and passing the tuna casserole, a place we can snuggle down with the divine.”

Think about this: A faith community can be a place where people love you back into life. This is one way that the tale of Christ living among us can be manifested, in the way in which we love people, as Christ did, back into life.

What kind of tales do we tell today about experiencing the risen Christ or empty tombs?

A short time ago, the past winter, there were terrible earthquakes in Haiti. And when I think of those days, of seeing the total devastation, I have in my mind’s eye a woman featured one night on the evening news a few days after the earthquake. Her husband had been frantically searching for her in rubble of the building in which she worked, refusing to give up hope. There were some news people present on the day he was convinced he heard something and one of them lowered a microphone into the abyss of the ruins. Indeed, the woman was alive. Imagine what that experience must have been like for those who were entombed in the wreckage of buildings …not just for hours but some, for days…no light – no sense of time – no voices – just nothingness…I myself have never been in such a situation…I don’t know what I would do. But this woman and others like her maintained a steady hope that they would be freed from their tombs.

And this woman – when they finally pulled her out – started singing – singing praises for God who had been with her, sustained her, strengthened her until she had been brought back into the light of day. The medical people gave her some attention and then her husband pulled the car up, she got in, and off they drove, as if miracles were an everyday happening.

What kind of tales do we tell today about experiencing the risen Christ or empty tombs?

Just last week I had the opportunity to have lunch with an intimate group of around 200. I was sitting at a table with some people whose faces were familiar but I didn’t really know them that well. The salad served was one of those fancy European things – asparagus and I thought some kind of strange cheese on the top. I took a small bite of the cheese, couldn’t really get a sense of the taste so then just scooped up a big chunk of it on my fork and commenced to eat. But to my embarrassment, it wasn’t cheese, it was an egg, a runny poached egg, part of which slithered down the front of my blouse. You know how that is – you glance around and hope nobody noticed.

After a while I turned to the woman next to me, and asked where she worked and how long she had been there. It took her a very long time to answer, “Since September.” I thought it a little odd. I quickly responded “me too, I got here in September. I came up from Florida. Where did you come from?” Again, a long time thinking before she answered. Then she said, “I’ve come out of an illness.” I learned that she was recovering from a stroke, that memory and word were very difficult for her, but that she was filled with an inner strength that she attributed to the Christ within her. While I was worrying about a dribble of poached egg, she was still in the process of being freed from a tomb.

What kind of tales do we tell today about experiencing the risen Christ or empty tombs?

Easter’s gospel story also tells us that the men at the tomb (angels?) told the women to remember what Jesus had told them. Jesus kept telling his followers that he would die and that he would return, that God was calling them all to a new life…that whoever believed in him would have eternal life…with him.

What does it mean to "remember"? Part of it means to make some thoughts present. Words or events that happened in the past become part of one's life in the present.

Now a remarkable thing about this movement of Christianity is that Jesus remained and still is, the leader. He did not name a successor. Christianity lives only because in some sense Jesus continues to live…in all of us. In church we use a fancy name for remembering Jesus… it is anamnesis…(pronounced ah –nam-knee-sas) which literally means ‘loss of forgetfulness’). Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, the thanksgiving meal we share together, we are saying that Christ is present with us…has always been with us…and will always be with us…everything that has gone on before and will be…all we have known and see no more…we are all together in this moment.

How can we ourselves say we really believe if we are not willing to tell others about it? When you are faced with the opportunity to witness to your faith, or called to be a truth-teller, even though you may feel as though you are standing inside that empty tomb, confused and afraid, wondering what to say, remember those women. They had each other. They were part of a larger community and they gave each other courage.

Remember also that you are worthy in the eyes of God who gave you life and that God is alive in you and all of us. Yes, your story might be discounted, ignored, your words deemed an idle tale, not to be believed. But go ahead and tell it anyway. Your story just might be the witness that frees another person from their entombment. Sometimes the most important witnessing you can do is to listen to another’s tale.

And, if like that mystery writer, you are feeling lost, depressed, or alone, come stay with us, let us love you back into life. Christ lives on, will live on, inside of you: listen, remember, then go and tell..