He is not here! He is risen!

Alleluia!

Remember when?  I'll bet your family has some great stories which start with 'Remember when.........' and get told again and again. These are the memories which get us laughing or leave us pensive or taste a little bittersweet.  They are our stories; they make us one.  Family members know the story and those who know the story are considered family.

Children love these kinds of stories, especially when Mom or Dad are the main characters and were young and did something silly .....you know, they acted like the children they were.  My children always loved to hear about adventures from 'when they were a baby' including all the ways they managed to fracture the English language as they learned to talk.  I only get nervous when my children are telling stories to one another and I have absolutely no recollection of the 'incidents' being described.

Sharing stories after the death of a loved one helps us place this moment in the context of an entire life lived.  The stories connect us and give us a sense of belonging while at the same time carrying us along the current of inexorable time.

When we read the stories about Jesus, we get to listen in on the disciples' story telling.  Remember when.....he fed all those people on the hillside?  Remember when.....he made that terrible storm go away?   Remember when.....he ate that last supper with us?

Remember when.....we thought he was dead.........but he wasn't?  The earthquake!  The angel!  I couldn't believe it.  I wanted to, but it was too incredible.  I told Mary and Peter told me and then I spoke to Thomas and then......it was amazing.

He is not here!  He is risen!  Who could imagine that?  What can I say?

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Expectation v. gift

from artist He Qi:  women at the tomb

They lugged the spices with them because they were expecting a dead body.

What they received was a gift - the gift that is visible only after the death.

That is God's way.  Let it go and it will come to you.

How many tomatoes = daily bread

How many tomatoes does it take to support a family?

Many of the marginal folks in Zambia have developed a way to purchase a commodity here for 10 cents each and sell it there for 11 cents each (obviously this is just an example using US currency).  For the smallest of profit margins these folks will re-locate a needed item from far away (important if you do not have any kind of transport) to nearby which allows them to charge just a little more and make a living.

Many women do this with tomatoes.

You will see them on the side of the road.  Perhaps they have a little table with a large display of tomatoes on it; sometimes these women only have a large basket of tomatoes.  Their neighbors, who don't have enough money to pay a lot more for the convenience of having these tomatoes close by, will pay just a little bit more to purchase what they need.

These entrepreneurs have no overhead since they simply set up on the side of the road.  They pay no taxes since they are not officially a business.  And they pay no workers because it is a one woman operation.

From these tomatoes a family is supported; often more than one family since the woman often has to pay someone to watch her children at home.

Perhaps at the end of a day this woman will have the equivalent of $1.  At a penny a tomato she must sell 100 tomatoes a day to earn her dollar.  At the end of the week she may pay her help $1. 

This is what 'marginalized' looks like in tomatoes.

Give us this day our daily bread, we pray.  Lord, please help me sell 100 tomatoes today.  AMEN