After the Sabbath at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven,

and going to the tomb, rolled back the stone, and sat on it.

His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.

The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the woman,

women, do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who is crucified. He is not here.

He has risen just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, he has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into

Galilee. There you will see him. Now I have told you. So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet

filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. Greetings, he said. They came to him, clasped his feet,

and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go

to go to Galilee. There they will see me. This is the word of the Lord. Yes, your God.

He is risen.

Several months back, I was having a conversation with a woman following a teaching that I gave.

And she was very vulnerable and sincere, sharing deeply and honestly about a kind of spiritual awakening, how after years of journeying through the complexity of reason and transcendence and the

randomness of life and depth of the human soul, she had had a breakthrough moment. She talked to me

about the way she'd always connected with God

most easily in nature, which I can relate to personally, and about her intellectual search

for God. And as someone who enjoys reading deeply and broadly, I also resonated with that.

And then finally, maybe 15 or 20 minutes into this conversation

that I could really relate to, she gets to the punchline. So I was on this long walk, a solo

hike up on Mount Hood, not another soul in sight for miles. And I'm wrestling all of these

existential questions in my head as my feet are just pounding the trail and then

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