We have more in-person events starting up this week: Food Pantry on Tuesday 5-7, Bible Study on Wednesday 6-7, and Sunday School followed by Worship Service and Fellowship (with food & drink provided) on Sunday. All welcome!
4 April 21 Easter Service
Call to Worship: Isaiah 25:6-9
6On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
9 In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
Invitation, Praises, and Prayer Concerns: Father in Heaven, today we humbly thank you for all that Easter, Passover represents. This salvation that we contemplate is the gift of gifts, and we know we do not merit anything like what you give us out of love. Thank you, Lord, and we pray that you grow and mature us more each day in our love for you through serving others. Amen!
Message Reading: John 20:1-18
20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
** And Mary becomes one of the first missionaries, sharing the good news of the resurrection of our Lord!
Message: Resurrection a Passover From Death
Today is the most holy day of the Christian year. More sacred than Christmas, Thanksgiving or even Halloween. (I should say All Hollowed’s Eve, and All Saints Day) Nothing else come close, because nothing else captures God’s reaching out to all of humanity like The Passover and Easter.
In the history of the world, it is our Faithwalk in the Christian Church that stands out as unique because of our “faith, hope, and love”.
- A Faith; our belief that God loves us so much that our God sacrifices all for us. Died for us, only to be resurrected and is able to lead us to the family of God in eternity.
- A Hope; that comes from the examples Christ gave us in a life looking outward to the service of others.
- A Love; that comes from our Lord that is meant to be shared with others, not horded. And the more we give of ourselves, the more God gives us to give!
This morning in our early service, I read David’s 22 Psalm. Where a thousand years before the Passion of our Lord (passion meaning the love and lengths God will go to save you!), David shares an inkling of what kind of agony God goes through witnessing our own sin and iniquity. Psalm 22 begins with the petitioner (our Lord), feeling utterly abandoned and left to answer for all of the sin this world has ever committed, and all of the sin we will yet do in our future. My understanding that this agony that our Lord endures on my account and your account, changes my attitude about my own actions in life.
It makes me want to behave, but more importantly, I want to grow and mature in a Lord that can make all the difference in the very skirmishes I struggle to separate myself from. What are those skirmishes, fights, and struggles? You name your poison, because everyone here is struggling to overcome something if not a host of somethings.
As I read Psalm 22 in the early service, we noted at verse 19 how the petitioner for God’s help in adversity, began to rebound and place more and more faith, hope, and love in and with the only author of all of our salvation, the King of Kings, our God of all majesty and grace. Psalms 22 finishes with the Psalmist pledging to declare God’s name to the assembly, because from God comes the theme of his praise. Our Lord heals our defects and makes us whole.
And if you aren’t here to get well, to get better, perhaps you are just doing time, and this is not a hospital for you because you don’t think there is anything to get well from. There are people who believe they are doing others and God a favor just by being in church. Because “hay, I’m a good person”. Hell is full of “good people” who hoarded all of God’s gifts to themselves, and never got well by reaching out to others in their walk.
Hey, maybe you’re already dead, so there is nothing to get well from. I just hope there is a resurrection somewhere in the future of our death. Regardless, I’m not divine enough to know what lies in the hearts of other people (thank goodness), so I can take the day off with the rest of you and leave the judging of others; to God! Our God who not only judges, but covers sin and saves a hurting world from itself.
Today marks the commemoration each year of all that God does in the world (that which we can understand). Not just back then during the time of Mary, Peter, and the disciples, but in the lives of people like you and me in the here and now. And I say the things God is doing that we can understand, because in our limited capacity, we can only comprehend a childlike serving, a minuscule piece of the majesty that is our God, and all that is going on around us.
And yet how unique, nourishing, and great is that little portion of knowledge that the Lord provides us is!
- Unique; in that unlike all the things people have worshiped and served in the history of the world, only the Lord whom we serve sacrificed all for us. All the other gods that people have and still do worship require people, us, to serve them, through our mindset, energies, and loyalty.
Just look at whatever you are addicted to or struggling with. Judging, eating, drinking, smoking, gossip, or buying stuff for instance, and you know what I’m getting at. That thing, that idol, that god, wants every part of you. All of your very being, draining on you, robing you of time with family and friends, ruining friendships and potential relationships, plus your free will, and you are never going to get satisfied.
As Isaiah 55: 2 teaches; Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?… Why spend your all of your energies?
- Nourishing: instead of sapping our strength and leaving us withered and without anything left but debt, recrimination (blame), and feeling guilty, our Lord cleanses all willing people who are open to a relationship in Him. He forgives all who really regret and repent the sins of the past, and want to learn to do better through walking with Him. Our Lord, who knows the way to a better, real, and rewarding life.
Just think of what freedom really means, instead of panic when driving past the police, now a friendly wave. Now you can go to the store with money still in your pocket because you didn’t spend everything on your god idol. Now, you don’t have to worry about things you have said, because you don’t play into the gossip or judgmental games of immaturity. Instead of trying to impress people, we are ready to serve with no agenda. Wow, sounds great. But can it really be like that?
- Great is the Lord; so great that all that we could hope for and more is attainable and more! Great is the hope that a new day brings when we begin to grasp all that is available in a life that is not consumed with our own; selfishness, desires, egos, and fears. Addictions all, and fueled by us individually more than some devil we cast blame on as a scapegoat.
When we own our stuff, instead of endlessly casting blame elsewhere, we begin to get well in God’s family. Just one more reason why God is great, and how awesome is our Lord who gave all, gives all, and leads all the willing to a majestic future in eternity. People like you and me saved in spite of our participation in the agony of our Lord.
We get a sense of this greatness and grace that the Lord sends our way from today’s Call to Worship Reading from the Prophet who our Lord quotes more than any other, in Isaiah 25:6-9
6On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
9 In that day they will say,
“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
Isaiah begins with a banquet with our Lord, and to someone hungering and thirsting for the righteousness that only He can provide, this looks to be the banquet of banquets. I’ll even settle for a place at the kids table or on the floor, just count me in!
Give me the scraps from God’s table instead of a seat of honor in hell any time! The food and company are real and everlasting. Besides, God does not serve up scraps. Living Mana is on the menu, that sustains, nourishes, and satisfies for eternity.
When Isaiah writes in verses 7 and 8;
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8 he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
The shroud that enfolds us, is our own iniquity and disgrace. Our blame that cannot be passed on to someone else. Saying the devil made me do it, or the drugs, or alcohol, or that mean parent, or the bully at my job, doesn’t work. It shouldn’t be a valid excuse for our own children, and it don’t work now for me. We did that stuff, and He destroys that guilt of the past in His loving forgiveness with our sincere repentance.
The Lord swallows up death and wipes our tears of guilt away along with our disgrace. And if you think you or someone else does not deserve the gift, your right. That is what’s so great about what is being offered you and me right now and forever.
And God offers this to the whole world. All those people you may have judged in the past, were and are being offered the same grace as you and I, and if we look the other way instead of sharing God’s Agape, we run the risk of creating a stumbling block instead of a doorway for people into our family. God’s family.
Yes, today is our most hallowed day of the church calendar, not because of anything we do today to commemorate this gift of gifts, but because in spite of all of the shenanigans, and nonsense that we have participated in throughout our lives, we have a God who knows what it means to be you.
Your God has been sore-ridded from walking cross country, hungry, thirsty, sad, hurt both emotionally and physically. Jesus was spit on, kicked, abused, hit, cursed, and slandered, and still went the distance for; you! And in spite of all of that, still loves; you! And has an open invitation to be a part of His family aimed straight at; you!
And if you are thinking, hey, I don’t need to think about any of this stuff because I have been saved for years, think again. Christians and members of God’s family, don’t rest on their laurels and retire. There is no retirement package that I am aware of, which is why our elders in this church struggle, and fight to be here to praise, glorify, and magnify our God!
I knew a guy, who at one point was an elder (an ordained leader) in a church that had elders. He had stopped participating in church, but when asked if he was ok, he would reply; sure, I’m an elder and I know this stuff… Sorry, if you are not using your gifts to serve God by growing and serving other people, maybe you never had that grace to begin with.
God gives us grace, so that we have something to share with others, His creation. Maybe that’s what today is all about. Reflecting on all that the Lord has done for us, and the very little in comparison that we are called to do for others in this walk we call life.
So, let the word go forth, that all are invited to share in the faith, hope and love, we have found in Christ, basking in God’s Spirit who carries us, when we make the effort to follow Him.
My hope and prayer for all of you today and this week, is that you have a chance to you give yourself the opportunity, to reflect on all the good that is in this world. On what the Lord did for us back then, saves you today and forever more. Yes, it’s God’s grace that is too often clouded by all of the bizarre that pervades our society, and the unedified rhetoric that saturates our conversations. The reality of God’s majesty is still there, its just flying below the radar of our perception right now.
Perhaps on Easter, Passover, Redemption Day, we have a greater appreciation for what God has done, and what the Lord is doing right now in you.
Amen!
Benediction: Based on the 23 Psalm
1 May the Lord be your shepherd, and you not want.
2 May He make you lie down in green pastures,
lead you by still waters,
3 May He restore your soul.
May He guides you along paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though you walk
through the darkest valley,
you will fear no evil,
for He is with you;
His rod and your staff,
May they comfort you.
5 May He prepare a table before you
in the presence of your enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
your cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow you
all the days of your life,
and may you will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Amen!