Poems, Sermons and Writings

Mary Magdalene takes us on the Easter journey from grief to joy. Mary was one of the women present at the cross along with the mother of Jesus and a handful of others. She was a disciple who had followed Jesus from early in his ministry - according to Luke, Mary had been healed   from demonic possession. We cannot begin to imagine the pain of watching the friend you have loved, the teacher you have followed being tortured and executed.   Mary sets out for the tomb - Mark’s account has them bringing spices to anoint the body for burial - something they had run out of time to do before passover. Today’s reading brings more grief for Mary - she will be unable to complete the appropriate rituals around the death - the body has been taken. We often speak of “closure” around death rituals. This year we heard that in spite of all efforts they will be unable to remove the bodies of those who died in the Pike river mine disaster it has been more than 10 years and the families still suffer. Many