Resurrection Sunday

We had such a great day today! We got up and went to church. I read John 20:11-18 from the perspective of Mary Magdalene during our services. I had been asked to read the scripture and as I was 'practicing' in front of Jeff last night and he suggested we put the scripture into first person. It was amazing and made it so much more personal! Jeff, as a pastor and M. Div graduate, has so much head knowledge, but man he has heart too! Here's his 'translation' into the first person.

Read this:

It was early in the morning and I stood outside the tomb of my beloved savior weeping. As I wept, I knelt down to get a second look into the tomb just to make sure that what a saw was true. I saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid.

The two angels spoke to me saying, Woman, why are you crying?

Wiping the tears from my eyes, barely being able to hold back my emotion, I said to them, “Someone took my Master and I don’t know where they put him."

I turned away from them and caught a glimpse of someone that I suspected to be the gardener.

In a familiar, loving voice he asked me, Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?

I responded in confusion and fear. Sir, if you took the man who was in that tomb, would you please tell me where he is so I can properly care for him?

This man turned to me and spoke again with the most familiar voice I have ever heard. He called my name. “Mary!”

Right then I knew it was Jesus. All the years that I had been around him, I would never forget that voice.

In all of my excitement, all I could do is cry out, “Rabboni!” (which means teacher)

All I wanted to do was to wrap my arms around Jesus and ask Him a million questions.

As I reached for him he said to me, “Don't cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.”

I left the tomb, smiling, laughing, crying, and running as fast as I could to get to the disciples.

When I arrived, I could hardly get the news out fast enough. “I saw the Master!"
Then I told them everything that Jesus had told me.

If you don't already have enough blogs to follow :) I'd like to suggest one more: Dino Senesi; Dino is the interim pastor at our church. His blog Thinking Out Loud is just that, but it's funny...the things he thinks are way different than the things I think of on a daily basis and most are challenging.

Here's just a snippet...

Not enough space to unpack, but read the story (The Bible - John 20). You will discover that on a journey to the heart of Jesus detox and growth is required. One (of many) reasons Good Friday was good was because a bunch of the short term views of Jesus died. Something new and better was coming, a good to great thing, that God was planning. A movement was on the heart of God. What does a deeper relationship with Jesus look like for you? What needs to die (views of Jesus, selfish motivation, self-promoting religion, judgmental spirit) for you to move closer to His heart? You can cling to the old (Mary M. tried and almost missed the incredible staring right back at her) or you can let it go and discover the after Easter Jesus.

I hope you had an amazing Resurrection Sunday! Praise the Lord that we serve a God that lives!