Scripture:Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18
We have studied Easter and the resurrection and what it means to us, and how it is experienced from the scripture and in our daily lives. We have considered doubt, despair, ennui, disappointment, awareness of the presence of God, trust, and the hope which springs eternal - living - from the catalyst of our continuing to stay involved and answering a call, even in the midst of doubt, lifting us from fear, despair and ennui.
This week we look at experiencing God's presence as we discuss the Lord as Shepherd considering the 23rd Psalm, and the Johannine texts.
What do these passages tell us about God, and us, and our relationship to God and each other?
How is this part of the resurrection of Christ? See "The Good Shepherd" by Debra Dean Murphy, and "Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear" by The Rev. Dr. William L. Self.
Scripture:
Acts 3:12-19, Psalm 4, 1 John 3:1-7, Luke 24:36b-48
We have asked what Easter means to you, and last week we asked what Jesus' resurrection means to you. Last week we considered "doubt" as we studied Thomas' need to see the physical wounds of the risen body of Jesus in order to believe.
Thomas and the other disciples did not become divided or exclusive of each other because Thomas could not accept what he was told. What is it that made Thomas come back to the group, and the group to accept him? We discussed the opposite of faith - fear and certainty, and how they keep us from seeing the risen Christ in new ways which change us into resurrected people, Easter people, and as Sam reminded us, people of hope.
And hope is the main theme of this week's lesson. The risen Christ brings hope and new life from doubt, revives us from ennui and despair. This week's lesson ties in with "signs of the resurrection," which we discussed last week. Read The Rev. David T. Ball's "Really Believing in the Resurrection." What is it to have hope? Consider Prof. Paul Tillich's discussion of hope in "The Right to Hope." What does the resurrection mean to you? What does hope in Christ mean to you? What is it to be "born anew to a living hope?"
Scripture: Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133; 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31
Last week we asked what Easter means to us, considering the different gospel accounts of Mary, Mary Magdalene, Salome, Peter and John encountered the risen Lord. Mark's gospel account said that the women were filled with trauma and ecstasy. Consider John's account of the twin, Thomas, and the relationship between faith and doubt in The Rev. Chad Vaughn's "Missouri, 'My Fair Lady,' and the Mission of the Church."
This week we ask what the Resurrection means to us. Consider the account of the early church in this week's passage from Acts, and "All are Welcome Here." How do we as a Christian community today compare with the early church?
Finally, consider The Rev, Dr. Guy Sales, "Signs of the Resurrection."
Scripture: Acts 10:34-43; Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; John 20:1-18; Mark 16:1-8
Last Sunday we read the Passion liturgy from Mark's gospel, a gospel frank and to the point. We are given a stark account of the betrayal, arrest, trial and suffering of Jesus. In Mark's account of Easter morning, again there are no superlatives. When Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome entered the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, they saw a young man dressed in white, who simply told them "He is raised. He is not here." The young man told them to go and tell the disciples, that Jesus would meet them in Galilee. In this gospel account, they did not do as the young man said because they were afraid, "for terror and amazement had seized them." In the Greek, it is “trauma and ecstasy” — τρόμος καὶ ἔκστασις — that seizes them).
Why were they traumatized and in ecstacy? The Rev. David J. Risendal in his blog "One Little Word," says : "They are afraid, and indeed they should be. Not afraid that the authorities might kill them, just as they killed Jesus. Not afraid that he isn’t who they thought he was. Not afraid that he is now gone, and has left them behind. But afraid that what the young man in the white robe says to them just might actually be true. Afraid that the one certain reality in their lives (death) is now no longer certain. Because if death is no longer certain — if the dead don’t stay dead anymore — then everything has changed.
Indeed, everything has changed. Long-held expectations of what the Messiah would be like, and what would be accomplished during a Messianic reign: gone. The comprehensive system of sacrifices and offerings that have brought comfort to generations of believers: gone. The certainty that God can be understood, and defined, and fit within our own expectations: gone. The absolute finality of death: gone.
And replaced with what? With the announcement from a stranger in a white robe, who declares that Jesus is raised, he is not here, he has gone ahead, and he will meet you in your future. Ironically, the future in which he promises to meet them takes place where many of them began: in Galilee. Past and future, alpha and omega, this one who has confounded the powers of death surrounds their days, and calls them into a life that they cannot even begin to imagine or understand. Terror and amazement; trauma and ecstasy; indeed!
Do we dare believe this proclamation? Do we dare believe that Jesus is as present in our beginnings as he is in our future? Do we dare believe that he calls us, too, to meet him where we go? To meet him in the stranger we feed or clothe? To met him in the sojourner we welcome? To meet him in the transgressor we forgive? Or perhaps even more powerfully, to meet him as we, ourselves, are fed, clothed, welcomed, forgiven…
This week, on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the faithful will gather to accompany Jesus on the journey of his last week in life. We will submit our hearts, once again, to this ancient and sacred story. May we, also, stand at the barren cross and the empty tomb on Easter morning, filled with terror and amazement — with trauma and ecstasy — at what God has done." And may we also be prepared to meet him, where he chooses to meet us, where we are, here and now, just as we are.
Amen.
