"He Is Risen! Are You With Him?"

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Don't forget!  This Friday, March 25 at 7 pm is the Good Friday Service, presented by the youth.  Please plan to be here for this reflective service.  Audio, visuals, readings, sound effects. You don't want to miss it.


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For Easter Sunday:

Luke 23:55-56, Luke 24:1-12

This scripture has the women coming to the tomb to do what women did. Anoint the dead and decaying body with funerals spices.  Only, the body is not there.  And some guys in dazzling clothes that must have looked like they belonged on a Broadway stage tell the women that "He is not here, he is risen."  Then they remind the women that Jesus told them this would happen. That he would rise again.

 When the women go to tell the men they don't believe them. They believe their story to be 'an idle tale.'  It figures.  But Peter decides to go have a look, and he, too, finds an empty tomb. He, too, is amazed.  

What transforms the people from 'cold as stone theology' to 'empty tomb theology'?  How do they take what happens to them in this moment of resurrection transformation and spread a message that makes its way all the way to 2016?  It requires belief.  Not belief in some fantasy, but belief in the message of goodness and love. Belief in the sunlight that shines on an open door that was once closed shut and entombed. Belief in a tomorrow that can outshine any dark day.  That is primarily what these earliest disciples had.  They became not only disciples, but, in the moment at the tomb, they also became believers.

We need to let the word believer become a word we embrace once again in the progressive church. To say I am a believer means you have the trust and hope that, with God's help, the peaceable kingdom can be realized.  To say I am a believe means that you trust Jesus' message of love triumphs over power.  Belief is not a pie-in-the sky concept. Belief is deep within and real and true.

Easter is about belief.  What can you say you believe?

On Sunday we will be singing Alleluias! On Sunday we will be singing He Lives! It is a big day. The day we recognize that no matter the fear and agony, the pain and heartache, the contempt... Jesus stood strong and let God's message of "love never ends" and "love will always prevail" win the day.  We don't know exactly what happened in those resurrection days... but we do know that a passion was fueled that has never gone out, that has kept the church fires burning for over 2000 years now... the message that Jesus came to bring about reaching out to your neighbor, even your enemy, with love and kindness and compassion has never ceased to be.

Comments? Email at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below by clicking on the comments link.