Outside the Tomb

Excerpts from a New Day’s Lyric by Amanda Gorman

John 20:1-18

April 20, 2025

Nicole M. Lamarche

Welcome again thank you for choosing to celebrate Easter with all of us!

It’s wonderful to see all of you!

I always begin with a prayer, resting on the words of the ancients from

Psalm 19. Tuning into whatever message the Universe has for us today.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be

acceptable in your sight, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Outside of a tomb, that’s how this version and this part of the Easter story

begins. In the dark, at the site of hurt, at the place that was the death of

dreams, the location of last things, and it some ways the end of life as it

was…. were…. “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark…”

She was outside of the tomb. Mary Magdalene that is outside of the tomb,

showing up in the thick black of the morning outside of the tomb holding

questions, confusion, anger, sadness, and worry…

Jesus’ community probably knew that being on the wrong side of

imperialism would eventually lead somewhere harsh, but perhaps they

didn’t think it would happen with the support of the crowd. And they could

have likely guessed that things would eventually spiral down to the lowest

and least creative way of being human together, but maybe they didn’t think

it would happen so quickly. And they likely suspected that an Empire driven

by greed would create the need to consolidate power, silencing and

removing voices with other experiences and perspectives, but they

probably didn’t believe it would happen with such brutality. And there she

was, outside of the tomb. Futures unraveled, people disappeared, lives

lost, loved ones gone, and some of their dreams gone forever too, as if a

shadow of fear had come over all of creation…

And do you know it feels a bit like we are right there with Mary Magdalene

this year, at least for me, it feels like we are in the dark!

And outside of more than one tomb, in the dark, at the site of hurt, a time in

history that holds the death of dreams, the location of last things, and in

some ways the end of life as it was…

I feel like in many ways we are right there with Mary in the dark, outside of

the tomb.

And do you know what else?

At least from my vantage point, just like those first century believers, some

of us are also in that place of: we probably knew that being on the wrong

side of imperialism would eventually lead somewhere harsh, but perhaps

we didn’t think it would happen with the support of the crowd.

And we could have likely guessed that things would eventually spiral down

to the lowest and least creative way of being human together, but maybe

we didn’t think it would happen so quickly.

And we likely suspected that an Empire driven by greed would create the

need to consolidate power, silencing and removing voices with other

experiences and perspectives, but we probably didn’t believe it would

happen with such brutality.

And now, futures unraveled, people disappeared, lives lost, loved ones

gone, and some of our dreams seem gone forever too, the vision where all

belong seems to be dead and in the tomb for now… A shadow of fear has

come over all of creation…attempting to put hope in death’s wrappings,

trapping more and more in the jaws of fear that is being fed and growing

like a monster, already gaining so much power that even those in positions

of privilege, even elected officials are starting to confess that so much fear

has overtaken any agenda they might have had related to what is best for

their constituents. They are so afraid, fearing retaliation on them and their

families. She said that we are in a time and a place that most of us have

never seen before.

We are in the thick black dark of the unknown, outside of the tomb holding

questions, confusion, anger, sadness, and worry…Yes the Empire killed

Jesus and is trying to kill all that is good.

But do you know what else is true?

Just like Mary Magdalene we are here outside this tomb, we know that

down in our souls, deep in our bones, to the core of our being, that there is

something else that can come from this…

Because I believe that part of what we are seeing is the death throes of a

certain way of being together on planet earth. From a spiritual perspective,

I wonder if this is something like the extinction burst of the patriarchal order,

this is the end of a paradigm of taking and breaking. When you are at the

end of something: all you can do is rename and take what is not yours.

I think we are hospicing the old order; the ground beneath us is shifting. Do

you feel it? We will make it so! As Shannon Willis writes, “What we are

witnessing is not strength, but the spasms of a dying beast, desperate to

maintain its illusion of dominion. Like cornered predators, these systems

lunge wildly, tearing at anything that dares to awaken, anything that dares

to remember wholeness. They are throwing everything at it, sorcery,

surveillance, sabotage. Their actions, like rabid animals, are dangerous,

poisonous, feral in their desperation.”

Does this feel true?

What we are seeing my friends, from the spiritual perspective is the

breaking down of a paradigm built on separation- separation from body,

from land, from lineage….from all that seeks to devour…”

This is the entropy of empire…

Therefore, beloved of God, let us “not patch the sails of the colonial ship as

it sinks...” Let us instead: what if we are here to midwife the wild return?

We are indeed outside of a lot of tombs right now, and a lot is going to die

that we didn’t want to die, that we hadn’t intended to lose, but still I believe

our call right now is to join the Spirit in hospicing the old way out and

midwifing what is ready to be born. Please tell me you are with me!

I believe that it is not all decided, that whatever name we have for God, it is

a powerful force that is at the back of goodness and all of us tending to

wholeness, to life and connection and love, God is responsive, co-creating

with us, luring us to possibilities, we might not yet even see. So even

though it feels like a tomb, and we are right there with Mary at the edge

showing up for a world that doesn’t make sense in some ways, what if we

are in the death throes of domination and the entropy of empire?

And that’s hard. But do you know what gave me hope this week? I lit up

and I want you to join me in holding this. We are gifted to be alive right

now! We have been entrusted with this moment; we are empowered with

the work of helping this old way of being to die. And with it will go our cheap

crap that we do not need and will come a rekindled love for one another, for

the trees, for this beautiful creation that is ours.

As we heard from Amanda Gorman, maybe our invitation right now is to let

ourselves leave behind what was, so we can take the first steps, not

returning to what was normal, But reaching instead toward what is next…

Communal Reflection

● As we show up outside the tombs of this moment, how can we more

fully care for those who have been harmed by the Empire?

● How can we midwife the wild return to reciprocity?

● How can we help one another not cling to stability, but rather share

our gifts for this special time when the world as it has been is colliding

with the world becoming? How do we help one another reach toward

what is next?

Beloved of God, we are indeed outside of the tomb, many of them. In the

dark, the world as it was no longer, in some ways. But we know that

something else can come from this, something will, something must come

from this. Even in the frenzy of the dying, our mourning will be turned into

dancing, the spells of death will be broken, we will no longer cling to

stability, but rather see that the world as it has been, is coming face to face

with the world that is on its way. This is the entropy of empire. We get to be

alive to midwife the wild return to reciprocity! Something else will come

from this- a new/old way to be. May it be so. Amen.