Here We Go Again

• Resurrection Sunday

With Matthew 28:1-10

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• Christ is risen, He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Welcome! I’m glad you’re here! Some folks are here because this is their home. They come for spiritual nourishment and fellowship, for a place to give and receive, a place to belong. Some are returning or visiting. There are a host of reasons and motivations. Glad you’re here. Whether this is your familiar place or it’s your first time or something in between, I hope you’ll give us the chance to be your family. Come back next week!

• Some may be thinking Here We Go Again. Same hymns as last time you were here, same crowd. Same story, for sure. 

The resurrection story is foundational to Christianity, even more than Pilgrims to Thanksgiving or “I cannot tell a lie” to George Washington.

Here we go again (HWGA): Jesus in the flesh again.
HWGA: disciples after 3 years, another opportunity to misunderstand.

• I’m not going to go verse by verse through the scripture today (though I do that sometimes)… I’m not going to offer proofs of resurrection or ask you to come forward in an altar call and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, although I do believe in resurrection and it is certainly my hope that you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as I do…

In fact hear this: I believe Jesus is Lord, that in him is life and love and hope and forgiveness, that somehow he was fully God and fully human, that somehow in his life and death and resurrection salvation is made possible and offered to all.

But today I briefly want to share reflection on something I read on facebook.

A quote from Gus Speth, an internationally known environmental lawyer, worked many years with the govt in DC and held office in UN:

• I used to think the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that with thirty years of good science we could address those problems. 

But I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy… and to deal with those we need a spiritual and cultural transformation. And we scientists don’t know how to do that.
– Gus Speth (James Gustave Speth)

• According to a renowned scientist, the world needs spiritual guidance.
The world needs both science and religion, both play important roles in the world.

Jesus came that we might have life abundant, to reconnect us to original selves as caretakers of planet and stewards of love. 

Where there is brokenness in the human condition, 

Jesus came to address exactly that. 

And that is exactly what the world needs.

• Quote 2: The advancing climate crisis cannot be addressed as long as we remain fixated on endless growth and consumption, corporate profits, increasing the incomes of the well-to-do, neglecting those just getting by, and helping abroad only modestly.

What the world needs is lives guided by and transformed by Jesus Christ,
who lived his life for humankind, and gave his life for humankind, whom God honored by raising from the dead. He goes before us in life, in death, and in new life. Goes before us and within us today. Live by him. Choose him. Follow him.

• Celebration of Holy Communion

Matthew 28:1-10  (CEB)   Resurrection Sunday  03/27/16

28 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. ² And there was a great earthquake, for an angel from the Lord came down from heaven. Coming to the stone, he rolled it away and sat on it. ³ Now his face was like lightning and his clothes as white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so terrified of him that they shook with fear and became like dead men. ⁵ But the angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He isn’t here, because he’s been raised from the dead, just as he said. Come, see the place where they laid him. ⁷ Now hurry, go and tell his disciples, ‘He’s been raised from the dead. He’s going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ I’ve given the message to you.”

⁸ With great fear and excitement, they hurried away from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ But Jesus met them and greeted them. They came and grabbed his feet and worshipped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go and tell my brothers that I am going into Galilee. They will see me there.”