Acts 10:34-43br...
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Acts 10:34-43
Clarence Jordan wrote The Cotton Patch Gospel, a version of the New Testament in the dialect of the rural South. He may be best known for that scripture paraphrase, but in the 1960s Jordan, a white pastor, founded an interracial community in Georgia called Koinonia Farms. The bigoted culture all around him shunned Jordan. Threats were made to his life, but he persevered.
In 1969, Clarence Jordan died of a heart attack. None of the local funeral directors was willing to help with his funeral -- out of either prejudice or fear of violence -- so he ended up being buried in a plain cedar box on a hillside near his farm.
Jordan's friend, Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, officiated at the funeral. When the service was ended, it was time to lower the casket into the ground. Just as this was happening, Fuller's two-year-old daughter stepped up to the grave and began to sing the only song she knew: "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Clarence, happy birthday to you."
As Fuller later told the tale, it seemed to all who were present that the Lord was somehow behind that innocent, childlike song. For what they had all been celebrating that day, on a Georgia hillside, was not a death after all: but a wonderful, glorious rebirth.
Acts 10:34-43
Linda and Lee bought a forty-foot sailboat and lived aboard it sailing from Alaska to Mexico and back again for five years. They had beautiful days and also experienced some stormy weather.
Linda recalls one terrifying moment as they were sailing south. It was a moonlit night when a sudden storm struck after midnight. The waves were rising thirty feet. Linda was trying her best while Lee slept below.
"I had my safety harness on and was doing my best to keep a steady course," Linda recalls, "when suddenly the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I felt this terrible sense of danger." She turned to see in the midst of a thirty-foot wave a great white shark.
She screamed, which woke her husband. By the time Lee stumbled to the deck the shark was gone, under the water. At first Lee did not believe her, until the next day when other sailors reported seeing the shark.
The events of Holy Week were frightening to the disciples. Some time later they were able to better understand all that had taken place as they witnessed to others, "They put him to death by hanging him on a tree," Peter preached, "but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses." The apostles were eyewitnesses; they saw the risen Christ with their own eyes. Their witness was compelling enough that others believed them.
Acts 10:34-43
Fred and Anna lived next to an Indian Reservation. When they moved to their farm, the locals told them they would have nothing but trouble. But Fred and Anna, immigrants from Germany, felt an affinity with the native peoples. After all, this was the late 1930s and being German and recently from Germany, made them suspect in Canada: Were they spies? Were they evil like Hitler? So when the residents of the reserve drove into their yard, Fred and Anna didn't cower in the house, didn't threaten them with the shotgun, but welcomed them into their home. Over the years there was always an open door at Fred and Anna's home, and an easy relationship developed between the natives and Fred and Anna. In fact, one of Fred and Anna's sons married into the chief's family.
When the pastor visited Anna in the nursing home years later, he asked her about their remarkably progressive attitudes. Anna remarked, "God doesn't have favorites. How could we?"
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Victor Hugo's lengthy novel Les Miserables begins with an act of grace. Jean Valjean, escaped convict, is given a place to sleep by a clergyman, but in the middle of the night he runs away and steals the clergyman's silverware -- some of the only things of monetary value in the house. Constables bring Valjean back to the minister's house, suspicious of Valjean's story that the clergyman gave him the silverware. The minister comes to the door in his nightclothes and greets the constables. "Did I give him the silverware? Why, of course. In fact, sir, I meant for you to have these silver candlesticks, as well." The constables, incredulous but with no evidence, leave. The clergyman informs Valjean that he should use the silver to become an honest man. In the course of the novel, Valjean becomes a successful, generous factory owner, an honorable man, and a loving foster-father for an orphaned girl. Like Paul, Valjean had a second chance through God's grace.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
A friend of mine used to say, "I can always find 1 Corinthians 15, because it's where I spilled my coffee." We'd do well to have our Bibles fall open to 1 Corinthians 15. We can be pulled away from the message of Jesus' resurrection by the winter sentimentality and marketing of Christmas and its snowflake festivals. So also in spring, sentimentality and marketing can yank our focus from an empty tomb to budding flowers.
If Jesus' resurrection isn't real then the rest of the faith fails and we're still without solutions to life's greatest problems. Jesus' resurrection is the hinge of the ages. All our faith hangs and swings upon it. It's the fulcrum of our faith. In the balance of life and eternity, Jesus' resurrection is strong enough to move the heaviest objects -- even rocks away from a tomb. Place your permanent bookmark at 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
For 2,000 years there have been inquiries concerning proof of the resurrection, and questions are still being asked today. In this post-modern era we want empirical proof. To the question posed we hear over and over, "I know what I know." That answer does not provide what people are looking for.
Like "looking for love in all the wrong places," they may be looking for Christ in all the wrong ways. The greatest testimony to a risen and living Christ is the lives that he has transformed. Look around you and observe the witness of those you know who have experienced the risen, living Christ. Their lives have been transformed by a Christ encounter, and there is no other explanation for the changes in their lifestyles and their passion to spread the good news.
When the living Christ touches your life, you know it, and you know that you are now a different person. Your joy and that peace that surpasses all understanding are the hallmarks of a new life in Christ. They are your gift by the grace of God.
John 20:1-18
Why do people visit cemeteries? What is it they expect to find? Some come armed with gardening gloves and trowel, horticulture on their minds. Others carry little gifts they plan to leave behind: mementos of a cherished relationship, or maybe a grave blanket at Christmas. They're sometimes a bit self-conscious to be seen putting these items down. They feel vaguely embarrassed by the sentimentality.
When Jews visit the graves of loved ones, they leave a stone behind. Eventually, the stones pile up, a tangible tally of the community's caring. The Japanese bring the whole family with them, and go through the ancient ritual of a tea ceremony in the presence of their ancestors. Others simply wander over to the grave and sit a spell: watching, waiting, remembering ... reading the names on the gravestones... and if it's a family plot, imagining their own place in the stone-carved genealogy of the headstones. When they leave, they somehow feel closer to the dear departed, more at peace.
Why is it Mary Magdalene visits Jesus' tomb?
John 20:1-18
Last November, evangelist Billy Graham celebrated his ninetieth birthday. Dr. Graham has preached to more people in more places than any other evangelist in history. His message has touched millions of people. Millions have given their lives to Christ as a result.
In celebration of his birthday thousands of people emailed their stories. (excerpts can be found at www.billygraham90.com)
One woman shared her story. "In 1969 I had lost my precious husband. I was left with two little boys and, to make a long story short, I planned to let the car run in the garage and take my life. As I was turning off the television you were on and you looked at me and said, 'For those of you who are hurting or have lost someone; remember that you were not given life for you but you were given life to serve him.' " "At that moment," she remembers, "a light went on in my heart; I got renewed life and gave that life to Jesus."
She concluded with these words: "You saved our family from more tragedy and brought me to the foot of the cross. I am forever grateful to you for that."
The message of Easter is that new life is available in and through Jesus Christ. On Easter morning, Mary Magdalene left that place of death proclaiming, "I have seen the Lord," which not only changed her life and the life of the disciples but continues to transform all of our lives.
John 20:1-18
The pastor regularly takes his confirmation class to the funeral home for a tour. One of the highlights of the tour for the confirmands is the casket room. There they are shown caskets, urns, and other burial items. During one visit, the funeral director was explaining the caskets to the class, when a student pointed to a small knob at the foot of the casket. "What is that?" she asked.
"That," said the director, stopping to unscrew the knob, "covers a compartment which holds a glass tube. All the information about the deceased is printed in pencil on a form that is inserted into the tube. In case of a flood in which the casket is washed away, authorities will know whose casket this is and where it was originally buried."
The confirmand was quick to observe, "They should have had those back in Jesus' day. Then Mary wouldn't have had to ask where they laid Jesus."
Ah, the humor of adolescents.
