Resurrection

Bodies and the power of God

Archbishop Mullally enthroned on the Chair of St. Augustine, 3/25/26. | Lambeth Palace

Easter Sunday - Acts 10:34-43, Colossians 3:1-4, John 20:1-18

Resurrection is about bodies. When the power of God gets involved with our bodies, it is no small thing. The unimaginable can happen, along with the complaints of a body trying to live into something new.

In the last week, I have been drawn to a photograph of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally. It speaks to me of the resurrection of the body.

It is a glorious vision of old and new. In the exuberant copes, mitres and throne it is the old Church Triumphant: powerful, proud, self-assured. But in the people — their bodies — there is something new. Women and men with dark brown skin wearing the symbols of authority, a woman sitting on the throne who lives with dyslexia, who started as a nurse for cancer patients and was not priested until the advanced age of 40.

Mullally says that her vocation was shaped by the washing of feet when she was a nurse. I imagine she washed feet often. Quietly. Not because she was ordered to. Because she saw what was needed. With no one caring or noticing other than the hurting body of the patient she was caring for.

Resurrection does not obliterate what is old. It transforms it. It is the power of God breaking into and transforming bodies, minds and hearts. Even that old body which is the Church.

In our lives, as in the Church, Resurrection is a process. There is always more light and love, more ache and loss to come because it’s no small thing when the power of God gets involved with our bodies. The unimaginable can happen. And anytime we feel like we’re seeing the light or feeling the love, it’s time to celebrate.

Happy Easter.