I have taught the resurrection story from Mark quite a few times, but until this Lent/Easter season I have never had anyone choose “a big stone” for the word or phrase that especially got their attention when listening to the story. I have always liked that part of the story because I can always hear someone I love telling about that big stone with energetic delight. So I took special notice when the Circle participant name it.

Round #2 of the “Word I Heard” story-listening activity gives Circle members the opportunity to tell why they picked the word or phrase they picked in round #1. The woman who claimed “a big stone” as her phrase gave a beautiful testimony about how the stone was like the burdens we bear. The grieving women wondered how they would handle it. How will we move the burdens off our lives? But when they reached the tomb, they found that it was already rolled away! That’s what Jesus can do for us: roll away our burdens.