The Apostles to the Apostles

How much poorer is the world because we have refused to see those Christ has already chosen? If we stop dismissing women like Mary, if we truly listen, if we honored their witness, the church would be stronger. The world would be more whole. The gospel would be more fully alive among us. Resurrection is not only what God does in Christ, but it's also about who God calls to proclaim. [00:11:24] (33 seconds)  #HonorWomenWitnesses

She does not recognize him. How often do we let our own grief blind us to what God is doing? How many times have pain kept us from seeing hope standing right before our eyes? She mistakes him for the garden, and perhaps she's not mistaken at all. For this is a new creation, a dawn breaking over Resurrection Garden where death is silenced and life speaks the last word. [00:08:01] (34 seconds)  #FromGriefToDawn

But recognition does not come through sight. It comes through voice. It comes through relationship. It comes when Jesus calls her name Mary. And in that moment, the world is restored because she is known, because she is seen, because she is called. Here is where we must stop, remove our blinders, and truly see. [00:08:35] (23 seconds)  #CalledByName

Yet for centuries, we have chosen not to see Mary Magdalene as she truly is. We have mislabeled her, diminished her, spoken words about her that scriptures never uttered. Tradition has shrunk her story, casting shadows over her discipleship, her courage, her unwavering faithfulness. But the gospel tells a different story. [00:00:34] (27 seconds)  #RestoreMarysStory

The risen Christ still calls people by need, still meets us in our grief, still turns our weeping into witness, still sends us out to proclaim hope in a world starving for it, And sometimes, the ones we least expect are the very ones God chooses to speak resurrection into the dry bones of this world. So listen, church. Listen for your name. [00:12:48] (30 seconds)  #UnexpectedVoicesChosen

The one who has conquered sin and suffering, the one who has come and overcome evil and death, the one who holds out hope, not only for us, but for all of creation. And yet, we must look in the mirror. How many times have we closed our ears to the Marys in our midst? How often have we dismissed voices, diminished callings, rewritten stories, especially the stories of women God has called. [00:10:52] (31 seconds)  #OpenEarsToMarys

Mary's grief is raw. Her pain is unhidden. She does not flee from it or cover it up. She stands unflinching unflinching in the full weight of her sorrow. How many women have we not witnessed who have operated day to day carrying sorrow, carrying despair? See, and that is there where Mary's very heart and her sorrow that the resurrection begins to break through. She turns and sees Jesus. [00:07:29] (32 seconds)  #SorrowBecomesWitness

Mary is not a footnote. Mary is not an afterthought. Mary is not a cautionary tale. Mary is the first witness of the resurrection. She is the one who remains. She is the one who seeks. She is the one who stays long enough to encounter the risen Christ. [00:01:01] (24 seconds)  #MaryFirstWitness