Resurrection Sunday is here again -- the dawn of a new morning. Many of us may have been here last year, too, for the Service. But we are not the same people we were a year ago.
We have all changed, some of us in big ways, and some in small, The flow of daily living makes it certain that, in ways big and small, our lives are different then they were 365 days ago.
Did you know that the earth's daily rotation, and it's annual orbit around the sun, are very reliable, very predictable things ?
But life itself has a way of throwing the unexpected at us. . . . Sometimes that is a blessing, a joyful thing; and sometimes that can be a difficult challenge or even a huge burden.
No matter what we may go through, in good times or in bad times, the world keeps on turning, spinning its way relentlessly around the sun. And even as it turns, the world we live in keeps changing, too. Sometimes for the better, and sometimes in ways we may find very disturbing.
But there is one thing has not changed during the past year. Jesus Christ has not changed. He is the same -- yesterday, today and forever.
He lives today as he lived then, and as he lived anew that very first Resurrection Morning, over 2,000 years ago.
A man named Alfred Ackley said it well in a hymn he wrote a little before my time, back in 1933:
"He lives, he lives, salvation to impart! "You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart."I know He lives within your hearts, too, or I doubt very much you'd be here.
In her poem, Resurrection Morning, based on a passage from John 20, Peggy Keister has already done a good job of proclaiming the Gospel . . .
I don't know that I can add very much to what she has already expressed so well, but there is one story I would like to share with you.
Consider this, and let your imagination translate the story into our own time -- perhaps even to our own community here in Harvard Illinois. These are the words of a former president of the United States, in his own reflection on the miracle of his resurrection -- the greatest miracle of all. He writes:"A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside, walking from place to place, preaching all the while, even though he is not an ordained minister. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted.
"There is no Court of Appeal, so he is executed at age 33, along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing -- the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place for him so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story?
"No. This uneducated, propertyless young man who left no written word has, for 2,000 years, had a greater effect on the world than all the rulers, kings, emperors, all the conquerors, general and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who have ever lived -- all of them put together. How do we explain that? . . . unless he really was what he said he was."
Who do you say Jesus was?
He may yet be in our midst without our realizing it, just as he was with Mary Magdalene on that first morning, and as he would later that day appear to the two men on the road to Emmaus. How will he become known to us today? Or in the days to come? Will we seek him out as Mary Magdalene and the others did that morning? Will we look to the Risen Christ every day as our Savior, as the Lord of our lives?
Sooner or later, the Risen Lord comes to us all, and speaks our name as he did that of Mary Magdalene. When he does, will we be ready to hear him?
So many of the post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus involved the sharing of food, that it does seem a fitting and proper way to acknowledge and enjoy his presence among the living on this Easter morning. That is why the carry-in breakfast we will soon partake in is, in many ways, much more than a meal. In some ways, like Holy Communion itself, it is a Sacred Event -- as we are gifted by the Presence of God.
And I guess in the final analysis, that is the Great Message of Jesus, and the reason for our joy. Because He lives -- because Jesus is alive and active in the world by the Power of the Holy Ghost, we can enjoy His presence with us, and the new life he brings, each and every day of the year. We don't really have to wait another 365 days to celebrate his resurrection.
Each new day the Risen Lord calls on you and me -- on all who believe in the miracle of the Resurrection -- to be part of new life in Christ.
So the words of the psalmist are proven to be true: Weeping may tarry for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
May God bless you with a full realization of the Miracle we celebrate -- and always.
Alleluia! He is Risen!
We have all changed, some of us in big ways, and some in small, The flow of daily living makes it certain that, in ways big and small, our lives are different then they were 365 days ago.
Did you know that the earth's daily rotation, and it's annual orbit around the sun, are very reliable, very predictable things ?
But life itself has a way of throwing the unexpected at us. . . . Sometimes that is a blessing, a joyful thing; and sometimes that can be a difficult challenge or even a huge burden.
No matter what we may go through, in good times or in bad times, the world keeps on turning, spinning its way relentlessly around the sun. And even as it turns, the world we live in keeps changing, too. Sometimes for the better, and sometimes in ways we may find very disturbing.
But there is one thing has not changed during the past year. Jesus Christ has not changed. He is the same -- yesterday, today and forever.
He lives today as he lived then, and as he lived anew that very first Resurrection Morning, over 2,000 years ago.
A man named Alfred Ackley said it well in a hymn he wrote a little before my time, back in 1933:
"He lives, he lives, salvation to impart! "You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart."I know He lives within your hearts, too, or I doubt very much you'd be here.
In her poem, Resurrection Morning, based on a passage from John 20, Peggy Keister has already done a good job of proclaiming the Gospel . . .
I don't know that I can add very much to what she has already expressed so well, but there is one story I would like to share with you.
Consider this, and let your imagination translate the story into our own time -- perhaps even to our own community here in Harvard Illinois. These are the words of a former president of the United States, in his own reflection on the miracle of his resurrection -- the greatest miracle of all. He writes:"A young man whose father is a carpenter grows up working in his father's shop. He starts preaching on street corners and in the nearby countryside, walking from place to place, preaching all the while, even though he is not an ordained minister. He does this for three years. Then he is arrested, tried and convicted.
"There is no Court of Appeal, so he is executed at age 33, along with two common thieves. Those in charge of his execution roll dice to see who gets his clothing -- the only possessions he has. His family cannot afford a burial place for him so he is interred in a borrowed tomb. End of story?
"No. This uneducated, propertyless young man who left no written word has, for 2,000 years, had a greater effect on the world than all the rulers, kings, emperors, all the conquerors, general and admirals, all the scholars, scientists and philosophers who have ever lived -- all of them put together. How do we explain that? . . . unless he really was what he said he was."
Who do you say Jesus was?
He may yet be in our midst without our realizing it, just as he was with Mary Magdalene on that first morning, and as he would later that day appear to the two men on the road to Emmaus. How will he become known to us today? Or in the days to come? Will we seek him out as Mary Magdalene and the others did that morning? Will we look to the Risen Christ every day as our Savior, as the Lord of our lives?
Sooner or later, the Risen Lord comes to us all, and speaks our name as he did that of Mary Magdalene. When he does, will we be ready to hear him?
So many of the post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus involved the sharing of food, that it does seem a fitting and proper way to acknowledge and enjoy his presence among the living on this Easter morning. That is why the carry-in breakfast we will soon partake in is, in many ways, much more than a meal. In some ways, like Holy Communion itself, it is a Sacred Event -- as we are gifted by the Presence of God.
And I guess in the final analysis, that is the Great Message of Jesus, and the reason for our joy. Because He lives -- because Jesus is alive and active in the world by the Power of the Holy Ghost, we can enjoy His presence with us, and the new life he brings, each and every day of the year. We don't really have to wait another 365 days to celebrate his resurrection.
Each new day the Risen Lord calls on you and me -- on all who believe in the miracle of the Resurrection -- to be part of new life in Christ.
So the words of the psalmist are proven to be true: Weeping may tarry for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
May God bless you with a full realization of the Miracle we celebrate -- and always.
Alleluia! He is Risen!
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