Over the mantle in the living room at the rectory hangs the most interesting piece of art that Wayne and I own.  It's an intricate collage and acrylic on wood, one of a series of eight works by a contemporary artist Jan Richardson, that depict scenes from the life of Mary Magdalene.  Each artwork is like a large- scale medieval manuscript illumination, ornamenting the start of a line of sacred text.  Our piece from Jan, reflect the lines from the Latin monastic prayers that were translated into English as the familiar words from the Service of Compline: "O God make speed to save us. O Lord make haste to help us."  The illumination in this case is a realistic depiction of the three women who, according to legend, came with Joseph of Arimathea to Jerusalem the day Jesus was crucified.  And when Joseph took Jesus' body down from the cross and laid it in a freshly hewn rock tomb, these three women went there with Joseph and then according to St. Luke, "they returned, and prepared spices and ointments" to be used to prepare Jesus' body for burial.  The piece of art over our mantel is entitled "Shopping for Spices: The Three Mary's on Holy Saturday."  A medieval legend names them all Mary, including Mary Magdalene.  Wayne and I lovingly call them simply, "The Spice Girls."

It is from this group of women that according to Matthew and John, Mary Magdalene was a part of...and yet it was Mary Magdalene who was the first witness to the empty tomb, and the first evangelist to take the news to the eleven disciples.  The Mary's, our sisters in history, are the ones to initiate an arms open in hospitality and welcome tradition of inclusivity- person-by-person, witness-by-witness, evangelist-by-evangelist, believer-by-believer - that palpably connects Dupont Circe to the empty tomb even now after twenty-one centuries have passed.

It's the devotion of Mary Magdalene and her friends that we honor when we get up at the crack of dawn to come to an otherwise empty church on Easter morning, waiting to be told again the Good News:  Put away your funeral preparations.   Jesus is risen from the dead.   And we are the ones who face the daunting task of telling this good news to others, the news that God is alive and well in this small but faithful Episcopal church.

What was it that brought Mary back to the tomb, and then gave her courage to go to the disciples to try to share this unexpected news?  What is it that brings us, for that matter, here on Easter mornings, when the majority of people in our city are asleep or otherwise occupied?  I ask myself this question every Easter, as I also have during Holy Week, and before that the whole season of Lent.  How do we account for the fact that from Palm Sunday evening to Good Friday observances, our attendance at Holy Week services grew, service by service?  What and who are we seeking?

It is well that we spend this Easter morning in the company of Mary Magdalene, who was not either a great religious authority or even known as a saintly personality.  Mary, who was the first person to announce the news of the risen Christ, was what we each seek to become - she was simply a person who turned to Jesus without hesitation so that Jesus could transform her life-even turn her life around.   Mary was the one who took her grief and expressed it as devotion, who turned again to Jesus even in his death, and who turned out to be the disciple to the disciples, announcing the resurrection.  Mary had heard Jesus speak of being the light of the world, and had been willing to stand in the bright light of honest self-examination to be able to see herself as Jesus did - a person capable of being loved by God, and in turn loving others, no matter what.  Mary had been healed by his touch and empowered by his friendship.  Jesus believed in her, and provided an opportunity for her Magdalene-style of leadership to emerge.  Mary Magdalene took the lead on Easter morning, and the fruit of her devotion can be seen in the devotion of all those who have worshiped here during Lent, Holy Week, and now Easter.   Through the holy season of Lenten self-examination, and in our Holy Week willingness to stand by Jesus all the way to Golgotha, we have been preparing to stand here this morning and proclaim, "Christ is Risen."    And we know it's true not just because of what happened then, but because of the transformation of lives here in our midst, ordinary and sometimes broken individuals becoming part of a community that offers to a violent and vengeful world the healing and peace of Christ.