This traditional Easter passage tells us of three women who have come to the tomb to anoint Jesus body, to prepare it for burial. It is early on the morning of the day following the Sabbath, and when they arrive they find that the stone has been rolled back. Inside, instead of Jesus corpse, they find a young man dressed in white, and they were alarmed. Don t be afraid the young man tells them. He is not here.
Life is filled with new beginnings, some good, some bad, some just are.
For those individuals and families who staked their future on the unknown, hoping that the lands they would be led to would be filled with promise, for my Great-grandfather who came to Manitoba, for Susan s grandfather who came to Alberta, for the people in your past who gambled that the future would be better if they stepped out in faith and stepped on board a ship and traveled to the new world, all these people took a first step, a new beginning on their journey of life. And whereas many of our ancestors were horrified and disheartened by their first Canadian winter, they persevered, because they had no choice. Many had to move on to wetter lands, starved out by the dry climate in the southern part of the province. And many settled and prospered, raised families, built houses and made lives for themselves, thankful that they had been brought to this land. And the future is never certain.