Sunrise Service Meditation

Mark 16:1-8
  When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.
  5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” 8So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

I want you to think for a moment about all the things in life that you cannot control. We'll start with the weather and move to health, or we can discuss the political scene or the global economy. I believe we can contribute to these, some more than others, but they are out of our control. And that can be hard for us to handle—we like to be in control, of everything from our schedule to our religion. I spend most of the week preparing for Sunday mornings, and I often have the illusion that I'm in control.

Fortunately, in all of our lives, God is in control. And we need to accept that and recognize that it is a good thing.

Think of these three women on their way to the tomb on that first Easter morning. They'd probably spent most of the last two days crying, and so they come to the tomb with the knowledge that there is a large stone in place.

Now, had they been Presbyterian, they would have put together a committee to be sure the stone was moved in time. And they would have needed to pay the workers, so a fund-raising committee would have been at work before that, and all of this would have been neatly planned and well under-control.

But of course, it didn't happen like that. They didn't know what they were going to do, but they went forward in faith, trusting that it would all work out.

And isn't it amazing that God provided. When they looked up, the stone had already been rolled back. They went into the tomb and found a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the side, announcing the glorious good news of Easter, of life conquering death, of joy defeating sorrow, of hope destroying despair. The message we announce this Easter morning is the same message those women found that first Easter morning—God is in control, Jesus has raised from the dead, and love conquers all.

The women, despite Jesus spending a good deal of his time here on earth announcing his impending death and resurrection, are shocked. They flee from the tomb, saying nothing to anyone, gripped by terror and amazement. They showed up and God did something amazing—now they had to figure out how to respond.

Our life is the same. God has performed amazing miracles in our world—he has given us the gift of life, the gift of a community, the gift of salvation in Christ. He has given us hope and joy and love and so many wonderful things that we could not list them all if we used every breath we have in this life. God has poured out his gifts upon us.

Our responsibility is to show up. We don't have to have all the answers. We don't have to know exactly what to do. We don't have to have a five point plan about what comes next. Like the women, we show up and trust that God will do something with our efforts, that God will be at work, that was is necessary is our response, not our control. We need to figure out how to let go of control, to recognize God's leadership in our lives, and to follow him. If we consistently show up, God will do amazing things in our lives—things that we may not know what to do with initially, just like these women.

But the women figured it out in time, for they eventually told the story, for otherwise, how would we be reading it today. And just like those women, we, too, will figure it out. We'll live the story. We'll tell the story.

But first we need to show up, without expectation or desire for control, and let God do something amazing. God is in control, and we're in good hands when we're in his hands. Our job is to respond, to worship, to praise.

Let us pray.