4/12/09: Easter
Posted on : Apr 13th, 2009 | By admin | Category: This Sunday's Service
Dan’s sermon:
“The passageway from the life that is to the life we long to live.”
Baptisms
Communion
Remembering our Friends and Loved Ones who have died.
And, of course, FABULOUS
~ Easter Music ~
including our WHPC Choral Ensemble:
Mark Abulencia, Musical Director
Elizabeth Kesner, Pat (Patricia) Killen, Priscilla Medina
Laurie Fox, Deb Nishimura
Adam Bourque, Andrew James Villarreal
Jack Gregory, Thomas McNally
and Brian Blanchard, Trumpet
“This is the Day!”
Choral Ensemble, Trumpet & Congregation
“Shine, Jesus Shine!”
“Open the Eyes of My Heart, God”
“O How I Long To See”
Choral Ensemble, with Priscilla and Deb
“Jesus Christ Is Risen Today”
Brian Blanchard, Trumpet
Offertory: “Abundant Life”
Choral Ensemble, Trumpet & Congregation
Communion songs:
“Alleluia, Alleluia! Give thanks to the Risen Christ”
“This Do in Remembrance of Me”
Choral Ensemble & Congregation
“Reign in Me”
~For Reflection~
The other week I was watching one of Rick Steve’s travel programs on PBS. For those of you who don’t know Rick Steve’s work, he is one of the most famous “travel authors” in the US. He mastered the art of transforming “pictures from your latest vacation” which oftentimes are quite boring to everyone else, into travelogues that show some of the “must-see” sights for international travelers! I love his work and one of the reasons I find it so good is that it is educational and informational. For example, the other week he was featuring some of the most famous artworks in Western Europe based on the crucifixion of Christ. It was undoubtedly a pre-Easter show.
One of the “masterpieces” he displayed is one of the most horrific depictions of the crucifixion in the history of Christianity. It has a picture of Jesus screaming in agony from the cross. Rick confessed that it bordered on repulsive. But then he went on to explain “why” it was such a horrible depiction. It was commissioned by a religious order that hosted a colony for those with leprosy and other contagious diseases. At that time in history there were no pain-killers and those who suffered with such diseases lived in agony, suffering from excruciating pain. The painting was commissioned by the order to portray a depiction that showed Jesus experiencing the same agony in life as theirs.
As I thought about that, I began to wonder in what ways the Gospel story of the resurrection is “rooted” in its own time and history? In the time that Jesus lived, one of the greatest fears was death. Death was frightening because it struck people much earlier in their lives than it does us today. Many, many children died in infancy. And if you survived infancy, chances were great that an epidemic would come along and whole villages or populations would die. There were no doctors, at least as we know them today, no antibiotics to control infections, no hospitals, no emergency rooms, no paramedics. Consequently, death was feared. To overcome death was miraculous!
In the middle ages when great plagues, such as “the black plague” were endemic, the Christian Church began to exert undue – in my opinion, “unfair and unjust” – control over people’s lives by “controlling salvation.” People not only feared a horrific and painful death, the church also laid on them the fear of spending eternity in the same torment. The final act of this drama played out right before the Christian Church split at the time of the Protestant Reformation because the Church not only controlled salvation, they tried to “sell” it. The wealthy were offered the chance to buy “indulgences” for salvation. The Reformers could no longer tolerate the way the Resurrection story had been “sold.” The returned back to the Biblical teaching of salvation as God’s freely offered gift for humanity. No longer could the Church, or death, separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.
Today I don’t meet many people who are all that worried about their salvation or death. I think the big spiritual question facing most of us today is “How do we live the life that we have fully?” We long for a life that is lived in communion – in connectedness – with the loving presence of God. We long for a life that has meaning rooted in accomplishments that are more enduring than the present moment, more precious than money can buy, more enduring than the latest gadget or “thing.” We long for a life that is rich in meaning, a life filled with love, a life rooted in deep connections and bonding with friends and those we love. We long for a life that no matter how many years it is lived, it is a life that is lived fully. And that is, I believe, what the gift of resurrection means for us today.
This Sunday we’re going to look at the meaning of the resurrection as “a passageway from the life that is, to the life we long to live.” How do we get “from here to there?” We begin that journey of our faith on Easter day.
Easter Blessings,
Dan
~This Sunday’s Scriptures~
The Easter Gospel – John 20: 1-18
The risen Christ appears to Mary Magdalene.
Now, on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “they have taken the body of Jesus out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter, reached the tomb first, and stooping to look in, saw the linen cloths lying there, but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following after, and went into the tomb; Peter saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the scripture, that Jesus must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Jesus, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing Jesus to be the gardener, she answered, “Sir, if you have carried Jesus away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and responded in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to God; but go to my friends and say to them, I am ascending to God my Father and Mother and your Father and Mother, my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, “I have seen the Sovereign”; and she told them that Jesus had said these things to her.