Acts 10:34-43 Luke 24:1-12 This is a very big day in the church. To put it in perspective: Without Easter, we would not be here. Without Easter, the church would not be – period. Without Easter, we would never talk about Jesus – never utter his name. There would be no reason to. This is not because Jesus didn’t do and say things during his life worthy of remembering. Quite the contrary. His teachings and his actions; the stories told of him in the gospels, from beginning to end, are precious gems to us. It’s just that, without Easter, all of those things would be forgotten. Jesus would have been a footnote in history – one more Jew who died by crucifixion at the hand of the Roman Empire. One of thousands who died this way, whose names are not remembered. Without Easter, death would have had the final word […]
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With Great Power: Dancing Together
1 John 1: 1-4 I know someone who likes to explain to me his philosophy of religion every chance he gets. This is how he looks at it, he says. It’s better to believe in God than not believe in God. If God is real, you win! And if it turns out there is no God, what have you lost? Nothing. On the other hand, if you choose not to believe and it turns out you should have, then God might be pretty ticked off at you somewhere down the road. So, you should believe in God, because – really, what have you got to lose? It’s as safe as a bet can be. My friend likes this argument and maybe even thinks he invented it. He didn’t. It’s called Pascal’s Wager, named after the 17th century philosopher. So it’s been around for a while. And it probably appeals to lots […]
Continue readingFor All Peoples, A Feast!
Isaiah 25:6-9 This is an Easter like no other in our lives, after a year like no other. But the story we share today is the same as ever. Last year on Easter morning we read the same story from the Gospel of John. That early in the morning while it was still dark, Mary went to the tomb to care for the body of a loved one, Jesus. I am sure Mary had already been shedding a lot of tears, between Friday and this early morning walk to the tomb. Possibly, she felt like she was all cried out. She had that kind of headache that you get behind your eyes when you have been crying a lot. And now she was just thinking about the task ahead of her – Which she thought was fairly predictable. But when she arrived, she found something she could not have imagined. […]
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