Reflection

Mary lingered longer outside that empty tomb than Peter and the other disciple. She was distraught. Even when the risen Jesus drew close, she was so upset she thought he was the gardener, and asked him if he had the body. It was only when Jesus called her by name she realized it was her beloved teacher. Alive.

Hearing Jesus speak her own name enables her to instantly recognize him. It is true. We respond to our name being spoken. Think of those times in a crowded room full of the noise of chatter, and suddenly you hear your own name and your ears detect it above all the noisy distraction: your ears prick up! Jesus saying Mary in the old familiar way cuts through the confused babble in her head as she tries to understand and make sense of his body not being in the tomb where she thinks it should be. She is distraught.

And as it was for Mary that first Easter morning, so it is for you and me today. We have each made our response to a personal invitation to become a disciple of Jesus. Just for a few silent moments, imagine Jesus is saying your name outside that empty tomb the first Easter morning, not Mary's name, but your name ... How does that feel, hearing the risen living Jesus speaking your own name? He knows each person better than we know ourselves, and seeks us out. Loving us, even as we are.

How do we understand the journey from grief into hope the first disciples made that day with the dawning realization that as the day wore on Jesus is not finished, but alive and close at hand.

We are living through a global pandemic, which still has a long way to run. We will not be safe until everyone across the globe is safe. No one is safe until we are all safe. We have lived with despair. Many have known the fear, anxiety, sense of loss and of hopes dashed by personal tragedy, illness, bereavement, economic hardship, separation from loved ones when we needed to be next to them the most. We have all experienced isolation, being locked away behind closed doors, staying safe at home, but missing out on so much in the process. So many missed celebrations and so much support that could only be offered at arms length from a distance.

Yet, the shock of Covid has made us look ahead to new beginnings, not getting back to how things used to be, but building a better, fairer world. We have learnt so much as congregations about how IT and social media can help us in our fellowship, and enable others to feel they belong more readily, and we have been able to include not all, but many people who would ordinarily find it difficult to come to a church for a variety of reasons. I appreciate we are all being sensitive to those who cannot access I.T. because of a range of barriers over which they have no control.

But we have learned what it means to be the church made up of living stones, and not being and doing church in a building-centric way. We have always said Church is the people, not the building, and the pandemic has helped us understand that truth more deeply.

This Easter, it strikes me that for the early disciples the truth dawned upon them that death and sin did not have the last word, but that love prevails, and always will; and that the light shines in the darkness and can never be overwhelmed by the darkness. They emerged into their new normal blinking in the glory of the sun, and began life anew with a fresh vigour and appetite for life, fear put behind them, secure in the knowledge of the risen Jesus and guided by the Holy Spirit as encourager and teacher, just as Jesus had promised. As the vaccination programme rolls out, and we can begin to live fuller lives with the eventual passing of the worst effects of Covid, we too can be like those early disciples and leave being hidden away for fear behind locked doors to discover what new things we have at our disposal as we in our turn are sent, sent by Jesus the head of the church, into the world to teach, baptize, and make new disciples. We are sent to bring healing and reconciliation, which lie at the heart of the gospel, to a broken and hurting world.

We of all people are called to live in hope. Not a blind optimism, but a hope rooted in the understanding that God's love revealed in Jesus will prevail, and that we know through the testimony through preceding generations, that God is true to His promises.

The congregations in the Tees and Swale Group, of which Northgate URC Darlington is part, have particular reason to be hopeful as you also look to the future and plan for a new ministry among you.

May God continue to richly bless you as you look to the future with every reason to be hopeful as an Easter people.

Amen!