Resurrection can only emerge from the shadow of crucifixion.

Put another way, our deepest pain, our deepest griefs are also moments of great opportunity -- chances for God to transform, to do great things, to show through us the depth of the beauty that can come from the depth of our humanity.

Bishop Duncan Gray of Mississippi was asked after hurricane Katrina devastated his diocese whether they would be still be making their 0.7% pledge of funds toward the MDGs. He did not hesitate a second before saying yes.

So many people had reached beyond themselves to help them, Bishop Gray said. How could they, especially now that they were getting a taste of how people in the developing world lived every day, not reach beyond themselves to help those whose need was chronic, not situational.

A moment where no one would have blamed them for circling the wagons and staying home turned into a shining moment of grace. A testament to the beauty of which we are capable. A testament to the incredible power of God's love.

The Boston Globe had an article this week about a Vermont woman who was to be married this past Saturday night. The reception hall on the shores of Lake Champlain was booked, 180 people invited, a trio from the Vermont Symphony Orchestra was to play. It was going to be perfect -- what she'd always dreamed of.

Then just six weeks before the wedding, she found out her fiancee had been cheating on her. The wedding was off, and she began cancelling all the plans. But the Club wouldn't cancel the contract -- she still had to pay for the reception hall, the food and the rooms.

Instead of fighting it, she decided she would turn it into something positive. She saw an ad for CARE's "I Am Powerful" campaign and decided to turn the event into a fundraiser -- a party to help women in developing countries get on their feet and claim their power.

And this past Saturday night, on the shores of Lake Champlain, that's exactly what happened.

Great things are possible when we look for opportunities to turn our mourning into dancing. One of the gifts of our Anglican Communion is our connection to the lives and stories of our sisters and brothers who live under persecution and in extreme poverty -- and who time and again live an example for us of what letting resurrection emerge from crucifixion looks like.

It is those instances - big or small - when we let God's beauty truly shine through us - that we become the best we can possibly be. That we show ourselves and the world what it truly means to be Christ's body, crucified yet resurrected.

Our individual lives and common life are full of crucifixions, big and small. They are in our past and present ... and they are surely in our future. They tempt us to hold back, to say "now is not the time," to postpone reaching out until some other day. A day when things are calmer. A day when things are more sure.

But that is not The Way, and it is not our way. Our challenge -- and, in fact, our amazing opportunity and joy -- is to not let those crucifixions convince us that mission has to wait, but rather to claim them as opportunities to let God break through and show us and the world just how powerful God's grace is.

Then we will not just be giving a witness. We will be living one.