Month: April 2022
Jesus dies on Good Friday and comes alive on Easter Sunday. This reality means we now live in a world where death isn’t the final sting. Hope outshines despair, and our lives (individual and collective) are forever changed. We now live in a world in which people (through faith) can also come alive. And we need to learn to lean in to this new truth. To help aid in this truth, our sermon series looks at the scenes that immediately surround Jesus’ resurrection and pays attention to the ways in which those who meet the resurrected Jesus come alive in their own ways. Each of the characters sees a deepening, a change. They awaken spiritually and come alive to the mission of God or to unconditional love or to service, and this awakening comes packaged with purpose and hope. The same is true for us. This Eastertide, we will see how the same resurrected Jesus comes to us. The same purpose and hope awaits us still. It’s time we (as a people, as a church, as a world) come alive in Christ.
Today is Palm Sunday. The day rumors spread throughout the city. You aren’t going to believe who’s coming to town! Families stumble over themselves to prepare. Women grab cloaks . . . men cut palms . . . kids organize confetti. City officials sweep the Temple Mount and clean the streets. His presence demands it. His followers will love it. You aren’t going to believe who’s coming to town!