Feast of Mary Magdalene

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her. John 20:11-18

As we prepare to go to Lambeth, I am pondering who has been invited and who has not. Years ago there were no women there. Now, the spouses of openly gay bishops are not invited. Last Lambeth, I was disinvited, due to the complex politics of the day. Certain types of people are often not invited to the table. Mary Magdalene is one of those people. Yet, God invited her to be the first to hold the risen Jesus, first at the table for the resurrection. What is our Creator saying to us as we think about the invited and the uninvited. I believe there is plenty room at God's table and many would be shocked at who our Creator puts first.

Gracious Creator, source of all welcome

you spread a bounteous feast for all

yet some are excluded and turned away. 

You called Mary Magdalene by name

in the chill of the morning garden

giving her the first sight of new life

making her first witness to the resurrection.

Remake us into your people of welcome

help us to set the table and make a place for all

and let your love shine through our simple tables. Amen.