Easter with a congregation of Lutherans

This morning, we attended an Easter worship service with a local congregation of Lutherans, and God's Spirit was present there. The pastor's main text was the concluding chapter of the Gospel of Mark, and he pointed out that the earliest manuscripts end with the eighth verse (verses 9-20 were added later). Hence, the original account of Christ's resurrection looked like this:

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Originally, the account ends without the disciples actually having seen Jesus, and a "young man" in a "white robe" telling them that Christ would meet them in Galilee. The pastor pointed out that, just as it is recorded in the story, Christ has gone ahead of us - He is there before we get there and will reveal himself to us there. Like those disciples, we are astonished and trembling with uncertainty - we don't fully understand what has happened, but we can be assured Christ WILL be waiting for us there when we reach our Galilee.