April 1, 2012 - Easter Sunday

Scriptures for April 8th – Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; I Corinthians 15:1-11; Mark 16:1-8; Easter Sunday; Song: Lord of the Dance Mark: Of course the resurrection story is the center of all of the Gospel books. But each of them tell the story from a different perspective, even with different characters. In Mark, a whole group of women have gone to the tomb in order to put spices on the body. They wonder how they will be able to get to the body, with the stone in the way. But when they get there the work has been done for them. The angel tells them not to worry what happen, but to just go and tell others what they have seen. But scripture says that they were not able to move, they were stuck in the moment, overwhelmed by the awe of it all, not able to speak at all. It is interesting that these words are the every end of the gospel of Mark. The rest of the story was added because later Christians felt that something was missing, there had to be something after the empty tomb and the resurrection. I agree with Mark, that there is not. We should live our lives in awe of what God did for Jesus Christ, and the that wonder and mystery extends today to our lives. We should also remember that of God can raise Jesus from the dead, then surely he can give us life. Acts: During the Easter season, we read from the book of Acts, not the old testament. The scriptures are preparing us for the season of Pentecost, when the gift of the Holy Spirit came upon the church and the church grew. We have a lot of consultants who are willing to come to church to talk about what we need to grow. When the truth is all that we need to really do is the read and understand the book of Acts. In our scripture for today, Peter is talking with Cornelius, a Roman soldier who is seeking Christ. He has been instructed to let Peter stay in his household. Peter is telling him what he knows about Jesus. Acts 10 is a proclamation of who Jesus is as the Christ, and what difference it makes to us all. Jesus shows no partiality, he died for everyone everywhere at all times. Jesus spread the message of salvation. He got rid of the devil in all of our lives. Because He is lord of all, Christ will judge the living and he dead, the faithful and the unfaithful. There is no way for us to escape the salvation of Christ. It will find us, even when we try to escape. When we sin, Jesus forgives, it as simple as that. Questions: What stones need to be rolled away in your life? What obstacles stand in the way of you being the person Christ wants you to be? Are you trying to roll them away on your own strength? Or are you trusting in the holy spirit? How would the church be different if we trusted in the spirit to help us to grow?