Along with joy, thereтАЩs a lot of fear in the days after Easter тАУ no less for JesusтАЩ disciples than in our news today. It has made me think about doors. The door behind which JesusтАЩ disciples hid after his death, the heavy stone that blocked the tomb where heтАЩd been laid, the doors today that keep people out, or in, or protect property or borders. And symbolic doors тАУ to peace or security тАУ that still feel so definitely closed.
This morning the metal-shuttered door at the Whitechapel Mission in the east end of London opened as it always does at 6 AM тАУ exactly on time so guests can count on it. Breakfast service will start in a few minutes at 8, and itтАЩs likely over 200 will eat a full English, complete with mushrooms and bacon, sausage, egg and hashbrowns. Today these homeless guests will be served by wonderful volunteers who left their own doors well before dawn.
Having a key to open my front door and a safe place to live is a real blessing тАУ I like being safe. And yet I think about the women who went up to JesusтАЩ tomb to anoint his body on Easter morning: wisdom would say stay home hiding with the men. And having left the safety provided by one door, they didnтАЩt know how theyтАЩd get through the next. The Gospel records their conversation: who would move the stone to open the tomb ? Yet, they went.
We might think of JesusтАЩ resurrection as a miracle, but it was actually just what he said would happen, even if no one had understood. God will redeem the world. However these women going out while the danger was still present - that feels to me a miracle no less real, hiding in plain sight.
And it gives me hope. Easter is not about things being safe, but about things being different. Doors open where we do not expect. The power to do miracles given to people forgotten by headlines тАУ women and men who go out in faith and change history.
On Saturday I heard the BBCтАЩs Lyse Doucet speculate about one possible turn of events in Iran: тАШтАжGod help the world,тАЩ she said with real emphasis. тАжGod help the world indeed тАж because, I fear, nothing else has.тАЩ
Maybe, this Monday, the beginnings of the miracles we hope for are in our power already. Long term solutions to intractable problems тАУ they are not cost free. But in the end real safety doesnтАЩt come from bigger doors or stronger locks.
USA