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Welcome to episode 171 of The Nonanxious Leader Podcast. This episode is dropping on Monday, April 18, the day after Easter. And I am actually abroad celebrating my 40th anniversary with my wife and my four adult children and their partners. So this episode is a rebroadcast of an episode from Easter in 2020. It's a message based on Matthew 28 and I thought it would be appropriate to share it with you now and my take on Easter hope and managing anxiety. So without further Ado, here is episode 171, Change, Fear, Uncertainty and Hope and Easter Message. The scripture reading today is from Matthew 28. Verses one to ten after the Sabbath. As the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake. For an angel of the Lord descending from heaven came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow for fear of him, the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, do not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

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He is not here, for he has been raised. As he said, Come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples he has been raised from the dead. And indeed, he is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him. This is my message for you. So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said Greetings, and they came to him, took hold of his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. In less than 24 hours, the lives of Jesus'followers were turned upside down. One moment he is celebrating Passover with the disciples, the next he's arrested, put on trial, sentenced to death, crucified. And then, just like that, Jesus is dead. We know this story so well that I think we get numb to the upheaval this creates for those who followed Jesus. They went from a life of healing and wholeness to a life of death and emptiness.

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Change is what Jesus followers were dealing with, and all change is loss. Whenever something changes, it's the loss of the old. Whether we like it or not, we must face a new reality. Often this change is something like losing a loved one or losing a job, something that causes pain and difficulty. But sometimes change can be positive. It can be a new job, which is the loss of the old. It could be marriage, which is the loss of singleness. It can be a child graduating from high school and going away to College, which is the loss of having a child at home. In today's text, Mary and Mary are coping with the loss of Jesus. And so they go to the tomb. They're not exactly sure what they're going to be doing. Unlike the other Gospels where they're going to anoint the body. It just tells us that they're going to see the tomb. You can imagine that they're coping with the loss, that they're grieving and they're just going to the tomb to somehow find some stability. When they get there, they meet the angel, find out the tomb is empty. And they're told that Jesus has been raised from the dead.

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Jesus body is gone. Could he be alive? What does that mean? Any time we experience change, we're forced to go through a new reality. All change is lost. And with that loss comes grief. Jesus crucifixion certainly resulted in grief, and it changed everything. I had a meeting with a coaching client last Monday, and of course we did it electronically. We are sheltering in place. But here's the thing. When I saw it on my calendar that day, my first thought was, did we miss a month? It seemed like it had been forever since we had met. No, we didn't miss a month. Our last meeting was in the first week of March, just a month prior. But so much had changed in the interim that it felt like another lifetime. It literally was another world. And the question is, what grief are we experiencing in the midst of the largest pandemic in over a century? David Kessler co wrote a book with Elizabeth Kubler Ross on grief and grieving, Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss. And he applies the five stages of loss to the current pandemic. He notes that the stages don't necessarily happen in order, but they do happen.

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The first stage is denial. We say early on, oh, this virus won't affect us. It's just in other countries, we'll be okay. Then there's anger. What do you mean I have to stay home? What do you mean I have to shelter in place? What do you mean? None of the restaurants and bars are open anymore. Next is bargaining. Okay, so if we shelter in place, if we social distance for two weeks, everything's going to be okay. Right? Next is sadness. I don't have any idea when this is going to end. The uncertainty is killing me. And finally, there is acceptance. This is the new reality. This is the new normal. I'm going to have to social distance. I'm going to wash my hands. I'm going to be careful. This is what I can do the fear, the uncertainty, the elimination of nearly everything normal in our daily lives that has come from this covid 19. Pandemic must be like what Jesus followers felt, and fear is a common element in today's text. In verse four, we're told that the guards were so afraid of the angel that they became like dead men. They were paralyzed. Has Covid-19 paralyzed you with fear? In verse five, the angel tells the Mary not to be afraid, even though they've just witnessed an earthquake, an angel and Jesus'tomb is empty. Is it possible to believe that new life can happen even in the midst of the seismic shifts and daily living that each of us is experiencing? In verse eight, we're told that they left the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell the disciples the word that is used for fear, and the text is often translated awe or reverence, as in the fear of the Lord. But the classical meaning of this word in classical Greek is to withdraw, flee, or separate because of dread or feeling inadequate. It is often used in scripture to describe withdrawing from God's will, which raises the question, Is it possible to be joyful this Easter, knowing that God is alive and is the giver of new life, while at the same time we are experiencing dread or feeling inadequate, might even be withdrawing from God's will? I'm not sure exactly how Mary and Mary felt, but I'm pretty sure they were both confused and hopeful. What counts for faith here is that they accept what's happening.

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Jesus has died. He might be alive. The angel has told them to go, but they don't really know what that means, but they accept the reality and go. Kessler, the grief expert, says that acceptance is where the power lies. It's in acceptance that we have the power to do something. So Mary and Mary go. They head back to share the news that Jesus is alive, that he's going ahead to Galilee. They go to look for Jesus. They have no idea what it means, but they go, and it's in the going in, seeking Jesus, that Mary and Mary meet Jesus on their way. And what does he tell them? Do not be afraid and tell my brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see me. If I were to translate this for today, I'd say, let go of the dread, the feeling of inadequacy. I'm not just with you, I'm going ahead of you. Does that mean we stop sheltering in place and social distancing doesn't mean we ignore the advice of epidemiologists and public health officials? I don't think so. Does it mean that we know what the future holds? Definitely not. What it does mean is that we can accept the uncertainty of not knowing when this will end, of how things will get better because God brings new life out of death.

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I had a colleague approached me back in January asking me if I knew of any worship resources for people who were feeling fear and chaos in their lives. This was at the very early stages of the coronavirus, so it wasn't even really on a lot of people's radar. It was more about earthquakes and machete attacks and wildfires and missile attacks on military bases and civilian aircraft shootings in churches, synagogues and mosques, not to mention impeachment and the division in chaos in the United Methodist Church. So I found a resource. It's from the Liturgist podcast. I'll put a link in the show notes and it's called You Are Safe. It's based on an excerpt from the book Emmanuel's Book to The Choice for Love. And I'm going to read just a little bit of this. You might experience it as a meditation. What does the voice of fear whisper to you? Fear speaks to you in logic and reason. It assumes the language of love itself. Fear tells you I want to make you safe. Love says you are safe. Fear says, Give me symbols. Give me frozen images. Give me something I can rely on.

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Loving truth says, only give me this moment. Fear would walk you on a narrow path, promising to take you where you want to go. Love says, Open your arms and fly with me. Ask your higher wisdom if it is not true. Without worry, you would have arrived exactly where you are right now and more pleasantly. Worry and fear are not tickets on the express train. They are extra baggage. You are going that way anyway, on this Easter Sunday, 2020. The question is, will you choose fear or will you choose hope and new life? I believe we will get through this crisis and we will do it together. That doesn't mean there's not going to be a lot of suffering, a lot of challenge, a lot of difficulty. But we serve a God who brings new life out of death. If we claim that uncertainty if we claim that unknowing and place our trust in God, we will not be a sign of despair. We will be a sign of hope. Amen. That's it for episode 171. I hope you found that message helpful, maybe even inspiring. I think two years later it still applies because of the uncertainty and disruption that we are going through, whether it's inflation or the war in Ukraine, or just whether we are going to be able to emerge from this pandemic and have some semblance of feeling normal again.

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I'm grateful that you are a non-anxious leader and you are able to help others see the hope that we see in God. Until next time, thanks and goodbye.