Easter Sunday

Read Luke 24:1-12

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He [Jesus] is not here, but has risen.”

As much as we might have intended to put ourselves into the Biblical story and journey with Jesus to the cross, it is not possible. We could never have the same experience as the disciples because we know something the disciples did not know, we know how it will end. The same is true for our own lives; our experience of life is not the same as others who are not Christians because we know the ending. No matter how much heartache and how many times we are in a valley, there is always the good news that no matter what happens to us, there is the goodness of God.

Julian of Norwich (1342-1416), an English mystic who at the age of 30 suffered from a severe illness, believing she was on her deathbed had a series of visions of Jesus. During that time she believed God gave her the message “…All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.” I believe, as Julian, as heartbreaking as life can be at times, all is well when we keep our lives open to the ever-flowing love of God! And when we can not manage to keep our lives open to God’s love, we can lean upon others in our community of faith who are open to God’s love at that particular time.

As I have journeyed through this season of Lent, I am reminded that there are many people in our church who I can depend upon when I walk through the valleys, just as Jesus depended upon the faithful around him. Thank you to everyone who wrote a devotional this year. Thank you to all those who teach, who witness, who take the risk to open your lives to others to share the good news that God loves each and every person and that Jesus was faithful even to the cross so that we might all experience resurrection. I can say today, on Easter Sunday, “It is well with my soul.” I hope the same is true for you. After all, Christ the Lord is Risen; He is risen, indeed!

Rev. Brenda Adkins

Prayer: Gracious God, Thank you for your love and the opportunity to serve with others who love you. May we be the people you call us to be and grow more in the likeness of Christ each day. May we experience transformation and resurrection so the world might experience the same. Amen.

Preparation for the Sabbath

Read Luke 23:50-56

It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. Luke 23:54 NRSV

It is the last day of Holy Week as Christians everywhere prepare for Easter. Holy Saturday is the day after the crucifixion and the day before the resurrection. For the followers of Jesus this was a day of sobering grief, it was a dark day, an interlude without hope or expectation. Those living in that day were poised between dealing with the trauma of Christ’s death and getting on with life – observing the sabbath to come. Luke tells us that Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin who had not agreed to their plan and action was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. Yet, in this dark moment, they carried out a generous act of piety and devotion preparing the broken body of Christ according to tradition. They took his body from the cross, wrapping it in linen and laying it in Joseph’s newly hewn tomb. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee seeing this departed to prepare spices and fragrant oils for anointment of the body. Completing this act of compassion and respect, they set out in preparation for the Sabbath.

Our journey through Lent has almost reached its end. For modern Christians this is not so much a day of mourning, as one of watchful expectation. Our annual destination is that glorious Easter sunrise, the resurrection of Christ and the fulfillment of God’s promise for all humankind. Joseph and the women who had followed Jesus were keenly aware that it was the day of Preparation.

As Methodists we attempt to live a theology of discipleship. As we face tomorrow and the Easter sunrise, have we prepared for Eastertide? How will we spend this Holy Saturday, this day, this life? Will Easter morning find you waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God? John Wesley urged us to consistently access the means of grace through prayer, study, worship, fasting and communion with other Christians. Will we act with attention and sacrifice? Are we ready for that great celebration? This is the day the Lord has made, your Holy Saturday, your day of preparation.

Deborah J. Noe

Prayer: Dear Lord, Help me with my preparation for the victory of Christ Jesus. Prepare in my heart a space where I may confidently, “proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ. Lead me that I might surround my fellow travelers with a community of love and forgiveness. That we may grow in our service to others. Praying for all that we become true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life. Amen.

Good Friday

Read Luke 23:1-48

“They kept shouting, ‘Crucify, crucify him’!” Luke 23:21

In our Scripture for today, the ground is shifting. A young, first century, Jewish man has been preaching openly about the failures of the religious and the political institutions to live up to God’s call. He is calling individuals and institutions to a new relationship to God and to one another. He articulates that call as release from all forms of bondage: poverty, injustice, physical infirmities, oppression, and violence. He calls for peace and justice, forgiveness and love, even love of enemies.

While Jesus’ preaching and teaching was good news to the poor and the oppressed it caused alarm in those who were in charge religiously and politically. These folks could lose their power to dictate what one was to believe and how one was to behave. They could lose their ultimate weapon, the power to cast out or to kill those who got out of line. Something had to be done about Jesus.

We have long been tempted to blame the Jews and the Roman officials for Jesus’ death. But that lets us off the hook. Might we not see that the mob that cried, “Crucify him” is us? We can behave just like politicians, savoring and guarding our power, willing to compromise our values to maintain our power and position. We are the crowd, caught up in the hysteria. We are they who called for Jesus to die. How else can we really hear Jesus’ words and know the depth of their meaning? “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”

Rev. Fredda Minick

Prayer: Gracious Lord, Every time your vision for your creation is misrepresented and I am silent, I betray you. Every time one of your children is used, condemned, ostracized or denied simple human dignity and I am silent, I betray you. Every time I let anger or fear keep me from speaking up, I betray you. Only you can save me from my worst self. Thank you for counting me among those you forgave at Calvary. Amen.

A Gift to Each Other

Read John 13:1-15
Doing for one another is a gift that we give to each other.  The giver and the receiver, both give, both receive.  One more time, doing for one another is a gift that we give to each other.

In a small town where we lived for a number of years there was a small Methodist Church.  We shared a minister who drove out each Sunday from Austin with another small Methodist Church a half hour from our community.  One year, during Lent, our Minister announced that we would all gather one evening and she would wash our feet and then we would wash each others feet.  I couldn’t imagine our Minister washing our feet.  We were just ordinary country folk and she a Minister.  My family and I didn’t go.  As I have matured, I have regretted that I didn’t allow her that opportunity to minister to us and even more so that I didn’t allow my family the opportunity to minister to each other in return.  They were gifts that were to be exchanged but I couldn’t see it in that way at the time.

We are a giving, nurturing people.  We enjoy doing for others but it’s not so easy to allow or to assist people to do for us.  When someone is going through a difficult time, we ask what we can do for them or how can we help?  What we want to know is something very specific that we can do to alleviate their immediate pain or make their immediate circumstances more bearable.  We want to do something that means something to them.  We want to help.

When it is we who are going through trials, accepting help is not so easy.  Even telling people what we need is difficult even though we can put some of those needs into words.  We don’t like to tell people what it is we need because we aren’t comfortable being the one who needs.  We need to keep in mind that it is a giving experience to allow others to help us when we are in need.  We are giving them the opportunity to do as Scripture teaches us to do, and we are giving ourselves the opportunity to receive as Scripture teaches us to do.  Loving and caring for each other is part of our Christian experience.

Becky Cockrum

Prayer: Lord, help me to see that receiving is as important as giving and help me to be prayerfully adequate at both giving and receiving as you have taught us we should be.  Amen.

Bread of Life

Read Matthew 26:14-28

While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Matthew 26:26 NRSV

Bread, the sustenance of life. What a tremendous sacrifice that Jesus gave his life for us, so that we can have life in him. What a wonderful gift of grace to us as we commune with our Heavenly Father and with other believers.

John & I received a gift of assorted bakery breads this last Christmas. One day I was driving to Austin for an errand and knew that John and I would not be able to eat all of the bread, so I took a loaf and a bottle of water with me. On the corner of Rundberg and Lamar, I came across a homeless man, hobbling on a crutch, with one leg missing. Rolling down the window, I shared the gift of Christ with this man by giving him the loaf of bread and bottle of water. He in turn gave me the biggest grin and words of blessing, as he received the “bread of life.”

What a simple act of love to share with others, but what a sacrifice Christ made for all of us when he shared his body and poured out his blood for us.

Joyce Russell

Prayer: Thank you Gracious God, for providing nourishment for our physical and spiritual needs with your bread of life.  Amen.

Thought for the Day: Share the Bread of Life with others.

The Poor Among Us

Read John 12:1-11

“You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” John12:8 NRSV

We can imagine this scene at Lazarus’ house.  Jesus’ followers are still speaking excitedly of his great healing of Lazarus.  They are excited, but they are also frightened of the reaction of the religious and political leaders in Jerusalem.  Jesus and his followers have retreated to the safety of Lazarus’ house in Bethany.  Now, though, they are planning a very public return to Jerusalem. (see vv. 12-19).

After dinner Jesus and his followers begin to talk of their return to Jerusalem.  This is serious business; likely only the leaders are in the room.  Then, this woman enters and makes her way to the feet of the Master and begins to annoint his feet with costly perfume.  What could she be thinking?

The writer of this Gospel, after the events of Good Friday and Easter, finds it convenient to emphasize Judas’ complaint.  We can imagine, though, that every man in the room is complaining.  We know for sure that Jesus hears their grumbling.  “Leave her alone,” he says.  Then, focused on Judas’ particular complaining he adds, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”  What should we be thinking of this response of Jesus?

Is Jesus here giving his followers permission to ignore the needs of the poor?  On the contrary, Jesus is here giving his earliest followers some immediate instruction.  He is giving us, later followers, instructions as well.  We are some of those who do not have Jesus present with us.  At least we do not have Jesus’ physical presence and physical needs with us.  So, Jesus offers us the poor.

We who no longer have Jesus, certainly have the poor in our midst.  Jesus has not given us permission to ignore the least of these – his brothers and sisters.  He places us among these brothers and sisters, and places them with us, so that the love and compassion we have for him might be shared with one another.  He brings us together so that we might enact the extravagant generosity of Mary in long ago Bethany for our brothers and sisters here and now.

It is no accident that the writer of this Gospel tells us that the final instruction the risen Christ gave to his followers was spoken to Peter.  “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  Peter answered, “Lord, you know that I love you.”  Then Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep!”

Milton Jordan

Prayer: Keep always before us, dear God, the needs of all our brothers and sisters. May we recognize in their presence with us the real presence of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen

Time Apart

Read John 11:45-57

The pot begins to boil.  People begin to choose sides.  Plots are hatched.  Participants and spectators alike wonder what will happen next. Jesus raised Lazarus.  People saw it.  Many put their trust in Jesus because of it.  Others ran to “tell on Jesus.”  They didn’t like it that Jesus seemed to be gaining power with the people.  They feared that the special protection their country received from the Romans might be put at risk if the people showed a shift away from their loyalty to the political and religious structures that had been agreed upon.  Their fear focused on Jesus. They decide that nothing less than his death will “de-boil” the pot.

Jesus leaves Bethany and goes to Ephraim (vs 54) and stays there with his disciples.  Will their departure from public life “de-boil” the pot?  Will their departure from public life protect them?   Will their time in Ephraim help them to consider the truth that lay at the heart of the lives?

Like the Gospel writer John, we know what is coming next in the story.  But, before we rush to make our own interpretation of the story and comfort ourselves with the Easter message, we do well to take some time apart.  Time apart to consider more deeply the troubles that Jesus faced in trying to bring God’s love to the world.  Time apart to consider more deeply the troubles of the world and the part we play in them.  Time apart to consider the truth that is at the heart of our faith and of our lives.  Only then will we be prepared for what comes next in the story for Jesus…for us.

Rev. Dr. Beverly Jones

Prayer: O God, as Jesus knew it was important to spend time outside the fray of activities, opinions and troubles, help us to spend time with you this day, knowing that you help us to see and face the truth and keep our lives centered in the power of your love. Amen.

Evidence

Read John 10:31-42

Why is it that one of our favorite phrases is “prove it”?

If a little kid tells his friend that he can do a back flip, the immediate response is, “so prove it.”  If someone wants a second chance in a relationship, they have to prove that they deserve it.  We are all like that to an extent- we prefer to see the concrete proof of something rather than accept it on a basis of “blind faith.” If we are told or promised something, it can be hard to believe until we have some visual evidence to support it.

Sometimes our relationship can be like that with God.  Jesus was being persecuted by the Jews for calling Himself the Son of God. They wanted to see proof that the words Jesus was speaking held truth.  They didn’t believe that Jesus was really the Son of God.

How would you react? Put yourself in the same situation.  If you saw a man on a street corner claiming to be God’s Son, would you believe him?  Or would you chalk it up to another strange person looking for pocket change?  The Jews chose to believe what their eyes told them, not what God and their faith told them.

Human nature is to rely on concrete evidence- the things we can hear, see, smell, and touch- not what we feel in our hearts.  It is hard to put complete faith in God without physical evidence.  When life isn’t great, it is hard to see that God is with us.  But we must trust that God is carrying us the whole way, and the proof of that is in God’s promise to always love us in ways we cannot imagine.

God’s plan for us as individuals is something invisible except to God, and it isn’t easy to put so much belief into something we cannot see.  Faith may seem less concrete than visual proof, but we must realize that our relationship with God is truer and more real than anything we could ever encounter on the earth through one of our five senses.

Abigail Barrett

The Question

Read John 8:51-59

Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. John 8:58-59 NRSV

Self identity is paramount for most of us. Some time ago it was almost a preoccupation of many thinkers of the intellegencia to deal with the personal question, “Who am I?” Books were written on the subject. It became almost a fad prompting one elder theologian to decry this narcissism, challenging these devotees of self to move out of their ceaseless introspection to ask a question such as “What’s going on?” instead of “Who am I?”

Our Lord dealt with this issue directly and to the point when he said to his opposition “I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” In this brief assertion he identified himself with the Almighty previously encountered by Moses in the burning bush, – “I AM THAT I AM.” The divine message to be proclaimed by Moses was to be: “’I AM’ has sent me.” Jesus was confronted by stone throwers while Moses was involved with a cruel and ruthless pharaoh. Both, however, were relevant to God’s mission in the world.

The pertinent question for us today is to ask, “What is going on?” What is God doing in the world and what is He calling us to do? Then we can see the proper relationship between “who am I” and the great “I AM.”

Rev. Philip Riley

Prayer: Gracious God, help me to follow your Son, Jesus and to witness for Him and for You and Your Spirit, One God in three Persons, the Great I AM. Amen.

Seek the Truth

READ John 8:31-43

“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”  (31b-32; RSV)

John 8:31-43 says commitment to something less than the truth is a debilitating condition, and we can be enslaved to falsehood without knowing it!  That truth should shock and disturb all of us!

Given the context of “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free,” I add “If ever you can be free!”  Even though truth normally gives far more lasting liberation than falsehood, truth does not always free us.  It may further bind us.  Read the passage!!

Speaking truthfully about a particular bondage does not set one free from it. Admitting addiction to a substance (even religious beliefs: ref. passage) or the inability to pay debts does not free one from the results of either. However, we will never be free from either until we admit the truth.  Likewise, a promise to marital fidelity or Christian discipleship does not grant freedom to act any way imaginable.  If we abide in, live within, that relationship only then we move toward freedom.

Jesus’ conditional statement focuses on religious truth.  He said if you live by my teachings and examples then you shall be set free from major impediments to discipleship, but not free from all burdens.  Jesus knew discipleship did not free one from poverty or oppression.  Obedience to him and his teachings was his prescribed path toward genuine truth and a meaningful life.

Lent provides opportunity and urgency to search and seek release from known and unknown bondage that debilitates our discipleship.  They may be there!  As Christian disciples, as seekers of all truth, this is the only available path to the highest freedom.

Rev. Joe Way

Prayer:  O God, the source of all truth, we pray for strength to diligently search for it and for courage to faithfully live in response to it.  AMEN