To be honest, it feels odd, and maybe a bit presumptuous, to call the first of anything daily, but that is my intention. I’m intending for this to be daily, Monday through Friday. I might add weekends but that is for the future.
The way this reflection will go, is that whoever is writing the reflection will select a short reading for the day, there will be a reflection, and then a prayer.
Reading: Mark 16.1-8 (I like to use Oremus to read the Bible online)
Reflection: The reading for today is the “resurrection story” from the Gospel according to Mark. I put that in quotes because we never see Jesus resurrected. There is no proclamation of the resurrection to the disciples. A young man in a white robe tells the women who came to anoint Jesus’ body that he is raised and has gone ahead to Galilee and the women run away terrified and say nothing to anyone. It’s easy to say nothing when the world is a mess and everything feels like its been turned upside down, but Jesus calls us to speak, especially in the hard times. When Jesus had been executed by the Romans, the disciples felt like the whole world was against them, and in a way it was since Rome controlled much of the world around them. When God raised Jesus, God says “no” to the empire and “yes” to Jesus’ way of self-giving love and when we attach ourselves to that same love, we can find our voice to proclaim to those in the world around us who need to hear God’s “yes”. It’s not easy to speak as the women at the tomb discovered, but they must have found their voice eventually because the story got out and the world has never been the same since.
Prayer: Gracious God, help us to find our voice in your love, and to speak your word to those to whom you send us today. Amen.
St. Augustine's Chapel 