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THE COMMANDS OF JESUS: The commands of God as enumerated by Jesus are precise and clear; an example Jesus set can be found in his interaction with the “woman with an issue of blood” (in Mark 5:31-34). The love of Jesus was made manifest in action, time, “dunamis” healing power, and counseling. This is the essence of love in action. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Mt 22:36-40
A DREAM: I had a dream which transformed my life. In it, the Lord ended by saying, “When you appear before me the final time, I will only have one question to ask you: DID YOU LEARN TO RECEIVE MY LOVE?” INTERPRETATION: I was a relatively new Christian and this made little sense in light of all I had been taught about Christianity. I thought I was supposed to evangelize, the tithe, to attend church, to be a good person with a minimum of sin, etc. Yet, I began to search the scriptures: “We love because he first loved us” I John 4:19 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” I John 4:7 It appears that we cannot love of our own volition. Even the Matthew 25 passage indicates that it is not human effort to be good that renders the “sheep” holy. In fact, the sheep will say, “…Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?” Both the sheep and the goats are not aware of Jesus “in distressing disguise” (as Mother Teresa used to say). They simply loved because they were filled with love -- and that love came from God, the Father. RECEIVE HIS LOVE: “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” Romans 5:5 The transformational love comes from the Holy Spirit being poured out into our hearts. Then we are able to love others (in fact, to love God, the Son, and the Spirit as well). Let me tell you of what happened to me. It was through Rev. 3:15-22. The scripture about being “lukewarm.” THE DREAM/VISITATION: One day I had a dream, visit to heaven in which the Lord asked me: “Did you learn to receive My love?” PRAYER: Let us pray from Romans 5:5 “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” That God’s love will be poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit!
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Let us pray. Lord, you tell us that “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16). We hold your Word close to our hearts, praying that you will inspire in us a hunger to seek and understand your Word. Please help us, through the advocacy and help of your Holy Spirit, as we listen to your Word this morning.
In your name we pray, Amen. Last week we started talking about the Holy Spirit. More specifically, we talked about receiving the Holy Spirit. And in trying to understand that, we looked at the story of the disciples struggling to understand and believe that Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior, had truly risen from the dead. Now I’m not going to repeat the entire story right now but, to make a long story short, the disciples were finally able to believe once they were able to see and touch the risen Lord Jesu. But, as wonderful as their journey to belief may have been, I do have one fairly important question still. Yes, the disciples finally believed. But, as a result of that belief, did their life change? The answer is…no. It didn’t. And we can see that it didn’t because the disciples are still hiding away behind locked doors, and weren’t yet going out into the world to do the work they had been given by Jesus. Of course the disciples aren’t the only examples of faith by itself not being transformative in the lives of people, churches, and communities. In fact, it’s quite possible that we, here in our own church, might be more like the disciples than not. We believe in the resurrection of Christ Jesus; you can tell that much by how big our celebrations were on Easter, after all! But even with all this belief, from the celebration, did we become people changed by that belief? Did our lives actually change, providing us with a deeper, personal, and interactive relationship with God who could make things new through that belief? Are we now truly living our lives as Jesus has asked us to live, both as individuals and as a community come together in Christ’s service? If our answer to that question is no, then maybe it is possible that we haven’t received the Holy Spirit, just as the disciples first failed to receive the Holy Spirit as well. The Holy Spirit is a gift, of course, and any gift that is given must also be received. And we are the receivers; we as disciples of Christ, are called to receive the Holy Spirit. But even knowing that, I’m sure some of us came away from last week’s message wondering exactly how we are supposed to receive the Holy Spirit. Now we understand the importance of receiving the Holy Spirit, what specifically do we need to do in order to receive the Holy Spirit? The answer to this is surprisingly simple; we just have to know the Holy Spirit! Today’s scripture reading actually takes us back to a time before Jesus’ crucifixion, as he is preparing to be turned over to the authorities, and hung on the cross to die. This story takes place during Holy Week, the week that leads up to the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. On Thursday of that week, Jesus and the disciples sat and ate a meal together before their last supper. There, Jesus washed their feet, and gave the commandment to love and serve one another. And at that point Jesus breaks the news to the disciples that he soon will be leaving them, news which shocks the disciples to their core. (John 13:31-35) After all, this is the teacher - the Messiah, in fact - whom the disciples have left everything to follow these last few years. They left their jobs, their lives, even their families to follow Jesus, in whom they saw the extraordinary and transformative power of God so they naturally would have expected that Jesus would be more than powerful enough to save not only himself, but the whole of Israel from the oppressive Roman government. After all, there is so much work yet to come! So it is only natural that, thinking like this, the disciple Peter says to Jesus, “Lord where are you going? Why can I not follow you now?” (John 13:36-37). To this, Jesus answers that the disciples cannot go where he is going, because Jesus was about to go where only he could go, to do a new thing that only he could do: to be hung on the cross. To die for the sins of the world. Speaking to those nervous, fearful disciples who soon would feel abandoned, Jesus reminds them that he will be back, and that they will not be left alone (John 13:33 and 14:18), because even after he he has gone he will send to them the Holy Spirit (John 14:16). And Jesus even gives a different name for the Spirit here - a kind of nickname. In the Greek, Jesus called the Spirit paraklētos, a word which describes not just the identity, but the role of the Holy Spirit. As you can probably tell from the English translation we’re given here, the Holy Spirit is sent to fulfill the role of advocate, helper, comforter, counselor and friend. Helping the disciples along their journeys in life - and yes, that includes us too! - is one of the main roles of the Holy Spirit.. But what, exactly, is the Spirit meant to help us with? Well, the Scripture tells us about a few different ways in which the Holy Spirit helps us. In John 14:16, Jesus says that he will give the Holy Spirit to the disciples to be with them forever. The Holy Spirit is an extension of God’s self - the presence of God which never leaves us - and the Holy Spirit helps us to know that even though we cannot actually see God the Creator, and even though we do not live in the same era in which Jesus walked upon this earth, we can still experience God’s divine presence with the help of the Holy Spirit. One good example that I can think of when it comes to truly experiencing God’s presence with the help of the Spirit, is a sense of peace. We sometimes go through truly difficult times in our lives; times where we lack any real certainty about our future, times where our relationships break down, where we suffer illness, pain, and even loss. And while that situation is in no way made less challenging, while there might not even be any real change at all, there comes a point where - somehow - we experience a sense of peace that could only come from God. And that peace is given to us as a gift through the Holy Spirit. Another way in which the Holy Spirit helps us is as a counselor and a teacher. If we look at John 14:26, it tells us that the Holy Spirit helps the disciples to remember all that Jesus taught them; all Jesus’ commandments, instructions, and guidance to live a life more in line with the teaching of our Creator God. During his time with the disciples, Jesus taught so very many things. He taught about repentance, believing in the Gospel, helping the poor and vulnerable, speaking the truth to power, not judging others, and loving everyone as yourself. And, of course, Jesus taught about God’s kingdom, where the last are made first, and the first become last; where those who have less are given more, and those who have more receive less. And then there’s everything Jesus had to say about God’s law too and, as the Pharisees often proved, it’s just impossible to remember and follow all of God’s teachings. There’s just too many! But the Holy Spirit is here to help. The Holy Spirit reminds us of the teachings we need at any given moment, and helps us to remember to practice those teachings in times and places where we might not otherwise remember to act as Jesus would want us to act. When we argue, or when we have conflict with friends or family, with people at work or school, or even in church, we can be reminded of the fact that we are commanded not to insult or judge others, but to love and forgive them instead. And this reminder that not only are we asked to be Christ-like in this way, but that we are able to be Christ-like in those times where it feels like we can’t be, that help only comes from the Holy Spirit. If I may add a little more, I think we can say that the Holy Spirit is a gentle and persistent teacher, one which “guides us to the truth (John 16:13).” Pay attention to that word there, “guide.” This word is also a type of helper, which shows us that the Holy Spirit also comes along with us in order to help us discern; to reveal and show to us what is true, honest, and correct in life. Of course, this also means that the opposite is true too; the Holy Spirit can expose the sin, evil, and wrongness of the world (John 16:8). Sometimes in life, the situations we encounter can feel so impossibly complicated, and we just can’t tell what’s right or wrong anymore. We don’t know where to go, what to do, or how to react to things. But in those moments, if we can just be patient and receive the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will guide us to the truth, and show us the right path for us to walk. The Holy Spirit is with us always, and reveals to us the truth, showing us the mind and heart of God every day of our lives. Now some of you might be thinking, “Ok, fine. Yes, yes, these are all perfectly scriptural explanations. I hear you, As long as I believe in the Holy Spirit, God the Creator, and Jesus Christ the Son, I should be all set as a Christian, right? After all, faith is the conviction in things unseen (Hebrews 11:1). So why are we trying to understand things we can’t see? Why do we need to understand all this detail about the Spirit, if all we need to do is just believe?” “Why can’t we just believe, and not worry about all the other stuff? After all, 1 Corinthians 8 tells us that “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up,” so why are we puffing ourselves up with all of this knowledge, making ourselves logical and rigid like the Pharisees, when we just need to have a fervent, powerful faith. Unshakable belief is all we need!” Right? But is that really true? Why don’t we think about this a little more for a minute? Last week, I talked about receiving the Holy Spirit, and I mentioned the very real possibility that the disciples didn’t, in fact, receive the Holy Spirit. And in today’s Scripture, Jesus reveals one of the main reasons that one might not be able to receive the Spirit; that is, not knowing the Holy Spirit. The world cannot receive the Spirit of Truth - the Holy Spirit - because the world doesn’t see the Spirit or know the Spirit (John 14:17). So what Jesus is saying here is that in order to truly receive the Spirit, to be guided by the Spirit and to be transformed by the Spirit, you must first know the Spirit. I believe there is a significant difference between asking for help from a Holy Spirit you do not know or understand, and inviting - receiving - the help of the Holy Spirit who you do know and understand. The most powerful, and best-known, work of the Holy Spirit came about on Pentecost, and it happened not simply because the disciples received the Holy Spirit, but because they knew what it was they were receiving because they remembered what Jesus had taught them about the Holy Spirit. This is where we need to be, as individuals and as a community; knowing the Holy Spirit truly, so we can receive the Holy Spirit fully. It’s fair to say that the Holy Spirit has been on my mind a lot lately. Not only have I been preaching on the Spirit, but we’ve actually been discussing the Spirit in depth during WOW (our Wednesday morning women’s group) too. And on top of that, as I said last week, my personal prayer life has been focusing lately on receiving the Holy Spirit. And this week’s Scripture reading taught me about the importance of knowing the Spirit in order to better receive the Spirit. As a result, my walk with God lately has led into places of greater trust in God, and through that a greater trust for all the people and situations around me in which the Holy Spirit dwells. Recently one of my children (and I’m sharing this story with their consent, by the way), had been having a hard time with their friends. I could see the hurt my kid was experiencing, and it was so very painful for me to see. I wanted to leap into action; to do something, say something that would make that hurt go away immediately. But in that moment, instead, I prayed that my kid would be able to receive the Holy Spirit. I prayed that I might be able to receive the Holy Spirit. I remembered all that the Spirit is capable of, and knew in my heart that the Spirit could show my kid everything, out of all the teachings of Christ Jesus, that they would need to remember to navigate this difficult situation. I knew that while I couldn’t walk with my child 24/7, the Holy Spirit can, and I trusted the Spirit to lead them to the truth. I won’t go into the details, because they’re not important, but what happened is that the issues wound up being resolved in a way that my scared, uncertain, very concerned human mind could never have imagined. Even in the midst of all this, there came about a good, honest conversation; dialogue and honest reflection happened among my kid and their friends. I am so glad, so relieved that I did not leap into action, following my own instincts to force a resolution, because I feel that the solution that God brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit - activated by knowledge of the Holy Spirit, prayer, and faith in who God is - was far greater than anything humanly possible. Please don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that I know everything about the Holy Spirit, or that I’m aware of the Spirit all the time. Just like anyone else, I can be easily misled by the flesh, turned to places where I fail to consider the heart of others, fail to see the Holy Spirit at work in the people around me. Just this past Friday I let one of my kids go play at the park, but gave them clear and specific instructions not to go play at one place which requires an adult to go with, since I wasn’t with them. Shortly thereafter, I ran into one of my mom friends, who told me that she had run into my kid just a few moments before, and they had told her they were going directly to the place I had just told them not to go. Naturally I was angry, and when my kid came home I was ready to really let them have it. I told my kid all about what my friend said, showed them that I had proof of their wrongdoing. But my kid just stopped and said, “You’re right mom, I was going to go there. But then I remembered that I wasn’t supposed to, so I went to the park like you said instead. And when I got there, I found one of my friends who was sad, and needed a friend to play with, so I stayed and played with them instead!” This was a good reminder for me, not only that I need to be more attuned to the Holy Spirit, but that the Holy Spirit lives and works in my kid’s hearts too. The truth is that it’s really easy to lecture, and to preach, and to scold. It’s easy to stand up here to talk about solutions, declare statements of vision and directions, or even bring condemnation and judgment on others. But oftentimes, what people most need in their darkest, most difficult situations, isn’t a solution, but the steadfast presence of the Holy Spirit, gently reminding and guiding them to the truth. It’s the journey - the walk with God, accompanied by the Spirit - that is the important part, not necessarily the destination. We are expected to receive the Holy Spirit, but we have to know the Spirit in order to do that. Certainly, we can learn about the Spirit from the Scripture, but we also have to commit ourselves to experiencing and interacting with the Spirit, prayerfully and honestly, in our daily lives. We have to trust in the truth of what we have learned about the Holy Spirit from the Scripture, and act in faith, receiving the Word that the Holy Spirit speaks into our hearts. Next Saturday on April 29, our church will be hosting Counseling First Aid (CFA) workshops, and we will welcome Dr. Joe Ozawa who, in addition to leading these workshops, will also be preaching here at KUC next Sunday. He will teach us how we can be a good, caring presence to our friends, families and people in need. I have attended his workshop before and they’re really great for a number of reasons. One of the reasons I think the workshop is great is that, even though he does not specifically put it this way, what he’s teaching is very much like what I was just talking about; trusting in the Spirit, having faith in what the Spirit is capable of, and simply being a loving presence for your friends and family. Don’t focus on solutions, or giving advice, or fixing things, but find a way to listen compassionately, so that the people you care for can discern just where the Spirit is guiding them next. Just as the Spirit is for us - accompanying us, helping us, and comforting us with the loving presence of God so that we might be empowered to move forward with the ministry and work of God - so too can we be for others in our own lives. So this is my prayer for you, and for our community, this week. May we know the Holy Spirit, understanding it so that we might be opened to receiving the Holy Spirit. Then, having received the Holy Spirit, may we walk with the Spirit in all situations, bringing God’s love and compassion to everyone around us, in all situations. Amen. Let us pray.
Lord, you tell us that “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16). We hold your Word close to our hearts, praying that you will inspire in us a hunger to seek and understand your Word. Please help us, through the advocacy and counsel of your Holy Spirit, as we listen to your Word this morning. In your name we pray, Amen. It’s April now, and the new school and work year has just begun here in Japan. We see children walking around with backpacks that are far too large for them, recent college graduates in their brand-new suits riding the trains and buses. And in the middle of all that, the cherry blossoms and other spring flowers have bloomed. Even with all the rain, the bright shine of new life is visible all throughout the world around us. The cold of winter has passed, and spring has come at last! And, of course, at the same time as this new life springs forth in the world, churches around the world celebrated new life just last Sunday as we celebrated Easter Sunday. And we did have a wonderful Easter celebration last week, didn’t we? The sanctuary was full of people from all different places. There was powerful praise, kids singing and dancing, and worship just warmed all our hearts. We had an amazing time of fellowship after the service too, just eating and fellowshipping with each other, while the kids had their Easter egg hunt and crafts time, and Tianen even sold her Jesus bags and stickers. Can we just take a moment to applaud and give thanks to God for the great blessing that was our Resurrection Sunday celebrations? All thanks and praise be to God! Of course, now that we’ve celebrated Easter Sunday - and since we all live in a world that loves to focus on efficiency and productivity - we might find ourselves thinking, “Wow, that was great…so what’s next?” What comes after Easter, after we celebrate such an amazing day in the life of our church? And, if you’re the sort of person who only ever really comes to church on Christmas and Easter, you might even be wondering why we even come back to church after Easter at all! The answer to that is simple; so simple, in fact, that I’ve put it into my sermon title. The Holy Spirit. I don’t know if you realize it or not, but Easter isn’t just a single day of celebration in the life of the church; it’s actually an entire season. The season of Easter begins with Resurrection Sunday, and lasts all the way until Pentecost, where we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus. Do you remember that story, when the disciples began speaking in tongues and the crowd was able to understand them in their own languages? That’s Pentecost. Take a look at the slide on the screen over here, and you can see a little slice of the Christian calendar. [Show slide]. You can see this section over in the upper-right corner where it says Easter, but as you can see it’s much more than one single day. But what comes after the Easter season is Pentecost: the season of the work of the Holy Spirit. But as important as the seasons of the church are, I don’t want us to think that the Spirit only functions in this…chronological way. After all, it’s not only during the Pentecost season, when we are touched by the Holy Spirit, when we are engaged with the Holy Spirit. It isn’t that the Holy Spirit only comes down just once a year like a fiery Post-Easter Bunny to inspire us to do as much work as we can during this one, isolated season in the church year. No. That’s not how the Spirit works at all. Instead, the Holy Spirit is with us always, and during the Easter season the Spirit helps us to understand the resurrection of Jesus Christ more fully and deeply than we can on our own. Without the Holy Spirit, the resurrection of Jesus remains to us as some ancient, incomprehensible thing that happened long ago in Israel, to people who don’t look like us, don’t think like us, and who lived and died far away and long ago. Sure we might understand the basic details of what happened - that Jesus died and rose again - but so what? Without the guidance of the Spirit, how can we ever hope to understand how this resurrection is relevant to us here, now, today? How does the resurrection come alive in each and every one of us, living and working in God’s community? In today’s scripture reading, we begin to see the true, lasting power of that resurrection made clear to us through the Holy Spirit. On Easter morning, when no one was watching, Jesus Christ came back to life. Those who loved him, who followed Jesus throughout his life, thought that his death was permanent. The women had come to his tomb not to look for him, but to take care of his dead body. But when they got there, they found that there was nobody to take care of. Because Jesus had returned to life. Shortly after that, Jesus appeared to the disciples in the house where they were gathered. Now these people were devoted followers of Jesus. Jesus had been their teacher, their Lord whom they followed with dedication and obedience for the last three years. They had all been called, personally, by Jesus, and had spent nearly every moment since by his side. Jesus had taught them all the Word of God, and demonstrated through his teachings and his actions that he was truly the Messiah - the Son of God and Savior of the world. Jesus told them that he had been sent to heal, to feed, to cast out demons, to throw down the oppressors, and more. To them, Jesus must have seemed like an unstoppable force against all the princes and principalities of the world, set to take down disease, demons, sufferings, and oppressors alike. It must have looked like he could overcome anything. Like he was invincible. Until he died. Far from being unconquerable, Jesus was arrested, put on trial, found guilty by the leaders of his time and, as punishment, set to hang on the cross until he cried out his last breath and died. This man, who did nothing but the will and work of God, the beloved son of the Almighty, in whom God was well pleased, breathed his last in torment and pain, leaving the disciples all behind wondering… …what’s next? But, as it happened, death was not the end after all. As we all know, Jesus rose again, resurrected from death and returned to life! And then, in the middle of a locked room, as his beloved disciples huddled in uncertainty and fear….Jesus appeared. Imagine for a moment that you are one of these disciples. How would you react if Jesus Christ, dead these last three days, just suddenly appeared like this? Someone you knew was dead not only appeared, but in the middle of a locked room, clearly alive? He showed up right in front of them, showing the wound in his side where he had been pierced by the centurion’s spear, the holes in his hands where the nails had been driven in to hold him to the cross. The disciples first reaction, naturally, was to rejoice! After all, wouldn’t you do the same? But I did find it interesting that even in their rejoicing, which we see right here in the Scripture, the disciples don’t seem to understand what this resurrection actually means for them. Look at how, exactly, they describe their encounter with Jesus to Thomas, who shows up after Jesus leaves and doesn’t get to see him for another week. When Thomas shows up, all they say to him is, “We have seen the Lord.” (John 20:25) That’s it?? Just, “We have seen the Lord?” If it were me, I would have so much more to say. “Hey Thomas!” I might say, “You’re never gonna believe this! We were hanging out in a locked room, and somehow Jesus just showed up! He said ‘Peace be with you,’ and even showed us all the wounds in his hands and side, so there was no mistaking it. And he breathed on us too, told us to ‘receive the Holy Spirit,’ and even gave us the power to forgive the sins of the people - something we thought only he could do. How cool is that???” But there was nothing like that. Just the disciples said, “Hey…we saw the Lord.” Pretty anticlimactic, isn’t it? Is it any wonder that Thomas had such a hard time believing what the disciples said about Jesus? There was no passionate conviction, no excitement about what they had just seen. Just a bland, boring “We have seen the Lord.” Only “saw?” Was it really that passive? Of course it was. They “saw” Jesus well enough, but it wasn’t as though they talked with him, not like they fell down on their knees in praise and worship of the risen Lord. They just saw. They observed the existence of Jesus, but despite everything he said and did to them, they took nothing from the interaction, drew no meaningful conclusions, and were moved to no action whatsoever. If that was all the other disciples said, I might be skeptical too. I might also say, like Thomas, “unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25) The disciple’s story had no life, no energy. It just wasn’t all that convincing. Seeing this unconvincing reaction of the disciples to the truth of the risen Christ, my question for us all today is this: Are we just like these disciples? Is our church reacting to the risen Christ-Easter Sunday just like the disciples did here? Sure, we rejoiced and partied big on Easter. We celebrated resurrection Sunday very well. But what’s next? What are we doing now? Are we still just as passionate about the Lord of redemption, the Savior who can turn death into life? Do we, each and every one of us here, know what the resurrection of Christ Jesus means to us and to our community? Or are we like these disciples, recognizing the resurrection but somehow frozen in place. Do we let the joy and celebration of the new life in Christ transform us, move us to action, and empower us to receive the Holy Spirit, or are we still living our lives in the same way we were on Good Friday? I think that today’s story shows us a few reasons why Jesus’ resurrection might not immediately take root in our lives, transforming and inspiring us the way we might hope. One reason is the fear that comes from unbelief. Let’s go back to the Scripture. Even though Mary told the disciples that she had seen the living Lord (John 20:18), they couldn’t truly believe her, and they were still living in a place of fear. Even though they had heard the good news, their doors were shut (John 20:19), and they were not opening themselves up to welcome the Lord among them. And we see what that fear, what that shutting down, does to the disciples; it causes them to be unable to hear, and to truly receive the Lord when he does come among them. Three times Jesus says to the disciples, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19, 21 and 26). But no matter how many times he says it, this peace doesn’t come into their hearts. Instead, they stay in their doubts and disbelief. And do you know why? It’s because in their fear, they did not actually receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus knows that in order for the good news of the resurrection to truly come alive in their lives, they’re going to need the Holy Spirit to work in them, to empower them, and to move them beyond fear into the service of God. So he is willing to give them the Holy Spirit. How wonderful is that? Our God, the ultimate author and finisher of our faith, the infinite Creator doesn’t mind sharing the intimate, inner force of God’s own self with us. Our God desires such an intimate, personal relationship with us that God chooses to share the Holy Spirit with us! But even in that, we still have to remember something very important about the Holy Spirit; it is a gift that is given to us, by God. And since it is a gift it is very possible that, without even realizing it, we might not be allowing ourselves to receive it. Or worse, we could even be refusing this gift of the Holy Spirit. I really think that was the case for the disciples, at least here, at the beginning. The Holy Spirit was given to the disciples, breathed onto them by Christ himself (John 20:22), but they didn’t actually receive it, at least not at first. This is why Jesus had to specifically tell them to “receive the Holy Spirit,” and the fact that he had to tell them this makes me think that there must have been a great resistance in their hearts to receiving the Holy Spirit at that point. And we don’t get a clear answer as to whether or not the disciples actually did receive the Holy Spirit as Jesus told them to (John 20:22). And in reading the verses that follow I don’t really get the impression that they did. We don’t really see them testifying to the great and transformative work done to them through the resurrection of Christ Jesus, or even just sharing their amazement at what had happened with Thomas later on. I don’t sense in them the passion, the power, and the excitement that so often accompanies the arrival of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been given, sure. But has it been truly received by the disciples? And Has it truly been received by us? The Holy Spirit isn’t a one-way thing, it is given to us all by God through Christ Jesus, but just like any gift it is something that we have to accept; something we need to receive. This week, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the Holy Spirit, and reading through all the different verses and passages where the Holy Spirit is discussed, and I have been absolutely blown away by the power of the Spirit, the depth of who and what the Holy Spirit is, and the great things that the Holy Spirit is capable of doing for God’s people, and God’s community, even today. And in that moment it came to me, that for all I have been praying for God’s will to be done, I might not have been understanding the way in which the Holy Spirit moves. Have I really been opening my heart to receive the Holy Spirit, and trusting that the Spirit will speak to me the mind of our loving and merciful God? In truth, I could not honestly say that I have been that receptive to the Spirit, so in that moment I apologized to God, and gave thanks for the fact that God is always patient, waiting for me to open my heart and receive God’s Holy Spirit. And as a result, my prayers this week have been centered on being receptive to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for myself, my family and, of course, our KUC family. Whenever I heard about difficult situations, struggles, or pain I prayed for the Holy Spirit to be received in that space. When I sang praise songs at home, I opened myself up to the Spirit and experienced a remarkable moment where I felt that I wasn’t singing just because I enjoyed singing, just to feel good, but because the Spirit had guided me to sing the song that God wanted to sing with me. In opening myself up to the Spirit, I felt at one with God, in communion with God. And peace was with me. So what about you? Have you opened up your heart to receive the Holy Spirit, allowed the Spirit to go through the doors of your fear and worry, and appear right in the middle of your life, transforming you in new and unexpected ways? Or are you still sitting in the locked room of your heart, letting your fear and unbelief prevent you from hearing the voice of God? These are the questions I asked myself this week, and questions I hope we can all ask ourselves as well. Today, we will have an all-church forum after our worship service, and the main thing we will be discussing will be this ongoing time of transition in the life of our church. What will happen with our KUC leadership this year, and next year? Where are we going as a church? What is the vision for KUC? All of these questions are important, certainly, but in all that we discuss and discern, perhaps the most important thing is to make sure that we are setting aside our fears and concerns, and making room for us to truly receive the Holy Spirit among us as disciples of the risen Christ. When we come together to make decisions as the body of Christ, when we come together to make decisions as the body of Christ, it's important to distinguish between what we think God might be telling us, and what the Holy Spirit is actually whispering into our hearts. Because sometimes, even oftentimes, there are huge gaps between these two things, and we need to be careful not to let our fear and unbelief lock the doors around us, and block us from receiving the Holy Spirit. When we receive the Holy Spirit, the mind and will of God are made open to us. When we receive the Holy Spirit, our fears are cast aside, and instead of simply just seeing Jesus, we can respond to the risen Christ with excitement, with passion, and with the enthusiasm of new life. So as we go from here into this time of discussion, discernment, and care for our beloved community in Christ, I pray for our openness to receiving the Holy Spirit, all of us. Not just one or two of us, not just the pastors, the church staff, council members, or the outspoken few of our congregation. All of us. Each and every one of us need to pray that God will open our hearts to receive the Holy Spirit, which is breathed on KUC by the Christ who was crucified, the Christ who died, and the Christ who lives again, standing in the middle of the locked room of our hearts? So let our hearts be open, let the hearts of all our KUC family be opened, so that we can receive the Spirit breathed upon us in this place, today. Amen. Matthew 28:1-10 (NRSVUE) After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he[lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Mark 16:1-8 (NRSVUE) When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 So they went out and ran from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Luke 24:1-12 (NRSVUE) But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The womenwere terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen.6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened. John 20:1-18 (NRSVUE) 1 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. Let us pray. God of life, women went to the tomb on the first day of the week, hands laden with the spices of sadness. Yet, you met them in resurrection power, and sent them running down the path to tell others that the tomb was empty. Meet us this morning in our worship service and fellowship time. Reveal to us the risen Christ so that we too may tell the good news to others. Amen. “Christ is risen!” Jesus is alive! That was the rumor which spread through Jerusalem that first Easter morning. But it was true! Jesus has risen from the dead! The women went to the tomb early in the morning and were the first to witness the resurrection. The testimony of women in the first-century Jewish world was not considered reliable in a court of law. Yet each Gospel writer presents the women as the first to discover the empty tomb and meet the resurrected Jesus. We must remember that the Gospels are not our earliest written accounts of Jesus’ resurrection. Those would be the letters of Paul. Even if the Gospels had never been composed, there would still be testimony of the event. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15: 3-7: “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…” Even if the Gospels all differ and there is a variance in secondary details, the basic message is the same: Jesus’ tomb was found to be empty of him early on Sunday morning, and the resurrected Christ later appeared to various disciples over a period of time. I looked over our scripture reading from Mark this morning and certain words or phrases popped out at me like “the stone rolled back,” “ran from the tomb,” “terror and amazement,” etc. Maybe you can try reading it and see what words speak to you. That is another way to read scripture, to prayer over it, then let certain words jump out at you and then soak the words of scripture into your heart. Jesus died for our sins, our doubts, and our fears. He rose from the grave to demonstrate his victory over them and to set us free from their power. Jesus wants us to know that his love for us has no bounds. We have been resurrected and transformed by Jesus. Sr. Joan Chittister, a Benedictine Sister, whom I met years ago, shares these words from her book, Scared by Struggle, Transformed by Hope. “It is true that Jesus who lives in us died but did not die. It is true that we have all known resurrection in our own lives as well. We have been crucified, each of us, one way or another, and been raised up again. What had been bad for us at the time, we now see, was in the end an invitation to rise to new life. The invitation was to a road, we now admit, we would never have taken ourselves if we had not been forced to travel on it. ….Life is not one road. It is many roads, the walking of which provides the raw material out of which we find hope in the midst of despair.” If you turned and talked to people around us this morning, I think you would find stories of despair but also stories of hope. When tombs of our lives have opened and the living Jesus has touched us and healed us – we have our own stories of recovery and stories of love. Easter keeps happening! New life comes to us; light shines in the darkness. The pre-dawn darkness turns to light. Perhaps you have not experienced this new life and you are hoping something will roll the stone away from your inner tomb and awaken life in you. Whether it happens today or not, wait in patience and trust. Growth cannot be rushed. Sometimes it takes time to recognize the tender shoots of new life already pushing up within us. Easter is about changed lives, yes, but it is also about a changed world. Easter is about a day when death is defeated! The promise of resurrection is the promise that death, all death, not just physical death, but every form of death, whether the living death of destruction in our earth, or fears we may hold within us; every power of death is to be no more! Easter is about letting lives soak up that promise of the resurrection until it becomes a reality in the world. All of you who roll away the stones in your life and open the tombs of your hearts to let love in, you are Easter people - you are people of the Resurrection! Alleluia! As Easter people, we live with the awareness that death has no dominion. Easter people can stand with the pain of the world and not be overcome by it. Easter people alleviate suffering wherever they find it; Easter people bring healing and hope when possible. Easter people reach out to create community because we have a promise of a new day. Easter people are witnesses that God in Jesus is alive in the world, we know life dug out of death, joy borne out of pain. We are people of the Resurrection! We know that love is the way. Go now, roll the stones away from your life and open the tombs of your heart Let the life –giving love of Jesus loose to touch and change you as we transform our world. For we believe in the resurrection! Go forth and celebrate the resurrection with Easter in your hearts. Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Amen. Today is Palm Sunday. Let me tell you a cute and funny story about a little almost 4-year old boy named Timmy. Timmy was sick on Palm Sunday and stayed home from church with his mother. His father returned from church holding a palm branch. The little boy was curious and asked, "Why do you have that palm branch, dad?" "You see, when Jesus came into town, everyone waved palm branches to honor him, so we got palm branches today." The little boy replied, “Oh no! The one Sunday I miss is the Sunday that Jesus shows up!" ☺
Today, on Palm Sunday, we celebrate Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem with “Hosanna!” Today our KUC children and youth processed in waving palms. We sang this lively song we have sung almost every year since I have been at KUC, “Hosanna in the Highest.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8xHr8krAII Palm Sunday is also known as Passion Sunday. That is the word 'passion' comes from the Latin word 'passio', originally meaning 'to endure suffering' and that is what Jesus did– endured suffering for all of us. You have heard of the passion of Christ before such as in the movie, The Passion of the Christ. There is also a famous Passion Play done in a village called Oberammergau in Germany every ten years. (In German: Oberammergauer Passionsspiele.) Have you heard of this Passion Play? My parents saw it over 40 years ago when they took a trip to Europe. The Passion Play in Germany takes place every ten years. The first one began in 1634. The 42nd Passion Play ran from 14 May to 2 October 2022, after having to be postponed in 2020 due to Covid. It is a five-hour performance. The next passion play takes place in 2030. (You can google “The Pasion Play in Germany” if interested to learn more. There is also Broadway musical (rock opera) depicting the gospels and the Passion called “Jesus Christ Superstar” from the 1970s with music by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice which I saw in high school. A movie was also made with the same title, “Jesus Christ Superstar”) Today, Palm/Passion Sunday, is the last Sunday in Lent and also the Sunday before Easter. We move through this coming Holy Week to Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. We will have a Good Friday service through Zoom at 8:30pm on April 7th in the sanctuary. We cannot forget Good Friday. I was told in a class by the Japanese theologian, Dr. Kosuke Koyama, back in my seminary days, that you cannot have Easter without Good Friday. He said oftentimes the church will let “Easter over shadow or just swallow up Good Friday” with all our Easter celebrations and joy but he said you need both to truly be able to know the depth of Jesus suffering and resurrection. It is tempting to only focus on the positive but we need to not forget the suffering. Sometimes people don’t like to hear about the suffering part and wish to skip to Easter. In Anne Lamott’s book, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, she writes, “I don’t have the right personality for Good Friday, for the crucifixion. I’d like to skip ahead to the resurrection.” Sometimes it is tempting to skip ahead to the crucifixion and bypass the suffering. But we must face Jesus’ suffering and death on Calvary first then we celebrate his joyful resurrection on Easter. We will journey with Jesus into Jerusalem during this coming Holy Week. I suggest looking at all four Gospels that have accounts of Jesus’ entrance to Jerusalem In John 12:9-11, crowds gather around Jesus and believe in him after he has raised Lazarus from the dead, and the next day the crowds of people who had gathered for the Passover* feast in Jerusalem welcome Jesus as he enters the city. In Matthew 21:1–11, Mark 11:1–11, Luke 19:28–44, and John 12:12–19, Jesus comes down from the Mount of Olives and as he goes into Jerusalem, the crowds lay their cloaks on the road where he is riding his donkey as they wave and put palm branches to welcome him as he entered Jerusalem. (*Passover, also called Pesach. It is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt. “In Israel, Passover is the seven-day holiday of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with the first and last days celebrated as legal holidays and as holy days involving holiday meals, special prayer services, and abstention from work.” (Wiki) This year Passover is from the evening of Wed., Apr 5, 2023 - evening of Thurs, Apr 13, 2023. If you need more information, ask KUC member Roy Mislang.) Incidentally, I was fortunate to visit Jerusalem and actually go to the Mount of Olives 25 years ago for an international pastors’ conference with other pastors from around the world. I also walked on the road where Jesus’ may have entered Jerusalem. It was wonderful to be in the places possibly our Savior had been! I walked and I wondered what it was like back then during the time of Jesus. I wish I could have been there to experience what it was like. Now we are going to do something different. I want us to now relax for a moment for a guided scripture meditation. Close your eyes and I want you to use your imagination. Imagine you are back in the time of Jesus and there are crowds of people. In your imagination, listen to the crowd shouting the words, "Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!" They are waving palms, which are a symbol of victory, high in the air. Imagine you can see the brightly colored holiday clothes of festive pilgrims gathering in Jerusalem for Passover. In the crowd that day, there were religious pilgrims from around the world. People are pressing up against you to catch a glimpse of a man coming on a donkey. Before him people are putting down palm branches and their cloaks. In your imagination, feel the excitement of the people as they gather along the road from Bethany to Jerusalem. Smell the dust and maybe you can even smell the donkey! There were people from all over there for the great 8-day Passover Festival, when the Jews remembered God’s deliverance of their ancestors from Egyptian slavery. There is excitement in the air, and someone hands you a palm branch. You start waving your palm branch and start to wave it shouting, “Hosanna!” You are trying to see through all the other waving branches to catch a glimpse of Jesus. You hear others shouting; "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" Jesus looks at you and into your eyes. He sees you and smiles. As he looks at you, you feel his love. He rides to the end of the road. You are following as best as you can but there are so many people and it is so crowded. Finally, Jesus gets past most of the crowds and you see Jesus climbing off his donkey. You look at him and he sees you! He walks over to you. You ask him to save you. You have many concerns to share and want to be saved from so many things. He touches your hand. He says something. Listen to him. (pause for a few moments.) Open your eyes. If we had more time or in a retreat setting, we would journal about our experience and what it felt like when Jesus saw you. Sometimes putting yourself in scripture is another way to read and experience scripture with guidance of the Holy Spirit. Last week, Pastor Akiko preached about the story of Lazarus. I would like to mention the importance of names. Lazarus is a given name and surname. It is derived from the Hebrew Elʿāzār meaning "God has helped." So, it seems it was already foretold that God would help Lazarus and Lazarus would be raised from the dead by Jesus. The name “Jesus” (also said as “Yeshua”) means, “he will save” or “Savior.” In Matthew 1:21, we can learn about the implications of this name of Jesus when the angel instructs Joseph: "She will give birth to a son, and you shall give him the name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Years later we find people in Jerusalem were shouting, “Hosanna!” Hosanna means “Save us!” The people wanted a Savior – a Messiah Savior – a King Savior - who would save them from the Roman oppressors. They may have been thinking Jesus would save them from the tyranny of the Roman Empire, save them from their poverty and economic inequality, save them from unhappiness, save them illnesses, save them from so many things! from They wanted to be saved in so many ways. They would most likely have heard stories about Jesus and his healing of people. They would most likely have also heard stories about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. They were excited and full of expectations. They were full of hope. Jesus was fulfilling a prophecy when he rode into Jerusalem. He borrowed a donkey and rode it into the city. But is a very significant part of this story. This was a direct fulfillment of Biblical prophecy found in Zechariah 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (“Daughter of Zion” refers to Israel. God's prophet Zechariah spoke these words in 520 BC at a time when Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians 66 years earlier. Zechariah spoke of a day when the Messiah would come and Jerusalem will be filled with His glory.) It is interesting to notice that the disciples were getting two donkeys – the mother and the colt. Maybe so the mother would not worry that the colt was left behind so she would be calmer to ride. Or maybe he needed both donkeys. Maybe Jesus rode both – one into Jerusalem and one out of Jerusalem. We do not know how old the colt was except it had never been ridden before. Also, the owner didn’t mind handing over the donkeys to the disciples. Maybe the owner knew the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 or maybe the owner knew Jesus. Jesus did have a lot of friends. (He also had enemies.) Maybe he had been saved by Jesus in some way and knew Jesus was the Messiah. But the owner might have already been expecting the disciples to come fetch the donkey. It was important for Jesus to ride a donkey for a few reasons – a donkey is a symbol of peace whereas horses were used in war, donkeys were considered wise (see Balaam’s donkey in Numbers 22:21-38), and a donkey was political symbolism which every Jew in Jerusalem would have understood from Zechariah’s prophecy. Those who shouted “hosanna” to Jesus expected him to be like a powerful king, save the Jews by driving out the Romans occupiers, and restore Jewish independence. The Jewish common people back then had some very good reasons not to like their Roman occupiers. The Romans, and their wealthy Jewish collaborators, taxed the common people almost to death. To pay these high taxes, poor people had to sell their lands and become day laborers. That’s why Jesus often told parables about workers without land. They could relate. Many of the workers in Judea/Palestine back then lived as day laborers and did not like their Roman overlords. But there were Jews, called the “Zealots” who protested and rebelled with acts of violence against the oppressive occupying Roman imperial army. The Zealots were most likely hoping Jesus, as a miliary king, would come to save them and lead them to riot against the Roman Empire. But that was never Jesus’ plan. Jesus did come to save the people but not in the way they were expecting. His salvation was not through violence but peace, not through coercion but invitation. He would save them and us but it was from the cross.We all need a Savior to save us. Jesus has saved us from our sins and is still saving us today. Jesus is our king, our Lord and Savior who entered our world to bring us peace and salvation and to save us from our sins. Remember that when you look in the mirror. I think we also may want some of the same things as the people did back then. As we shout “Hosana!”, we want Jesus to bring peace to our hearts and peace to our world. We want Jesus to heal the hurts and pain. We want Jesus to establish His reign forever. As people in need of saving, Hosanna people, we not only ask Jesus to save us but to help us to save others as well. We can save people in so many ways – by showing the love of Christ through kindness, gentleness, showing patience, caring for one another, sharing resources, being generous, mentoring new Christians, reading the Bible, praying, and telling others about Jesus. Even if we are saved, suffering for ourselves and our world still exists German theologian Jürgen Moltmann wrote The Crucified God. The Crucified God established the cross as the foundation for Christian hope. God suffered on the cross was an act of ultimate solidarity between God and humanity. The world changed for Moltmann in July 1943 when, at age 17, he witnessed and survived the Allied firebombing of his hometown of Hamburg, in which more than 40,000 civilians were killed. He asked, “Where is God in all this? Where is God in the suffering and pain of this world?” Moltmann later made the connection between the cross of Christ and the suffering of God, and the suffering of innocent civilians and Jewish people in the concentration camps. Jesus was human and God incarnate. He suffered to show God’s love and God’s identification with us. Perhaps also to show God’s vulnerability with us. C. S. Lewis meant when he said, “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken.” God’s love is so strong that God’s heart may have been breaking to watch his only son suffer and to also God’s heart breaks when God watches us suffer today. God never leave us. The cross of Jesus stands in the midst of our life, and the question before us is will we be faithful to that cross? God , on the cross with outstretched arms, embraced the whole world with God’s love. Let us remember what John 3: 16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” The cross, for Jesus, represented his exposure to pain and suffering. The cross was his vulnerability. Therefore, taking up our cross" means acknowledging our vulnerability. Matthew 16:24 (and Luke 9:23) says, “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Jesus bids us be like him in that we can not only carry our own suffering, but that of others as well. But it starts with the willingness to die to ourselves and live unto him. Luke 14:27 – “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Galatians 2:20 - “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Today, Palm Sunday, we remember how he entered the city of Jerusalem. During this Holy Week we will remember that Jesus lived out the last days of his life - betrayed and denied by friends, unjustly tried, suffered, died. Jesus’ death changed the world forever. May God help us this week to take time to pause, to take up the cross, be faithful to the cross as we follow him. (Show 8-day power point slides on Holy Week.) Gracious God, as we journey during this Holy Week, give us grace to follow Christ, and to give to him our very lives. |
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