Where's Jesus?
Stories
Object:
Contents
"Where's Jesus?" by Timothy F. Merrill
"Easter Cookies?" by Contance Berg
"A Shroud Unto Life" by Richard A. Jensen
* * * * * * * *
Where's Jesus?
by Timothy F. Merrill
Luke 24:1-12
I have a hobby that some people might think odd, if not perverse. I like to take pictures of the tombstones of famous people. That's why, in my travels, I visit the local cemetery.
I've visited the catacombs in Rome and in Paris -- full of dead men's bones, unknown and forgotten by history.
But visit Arlington National Cemetery and you'll find the grave of President John F. Kennedy and of some Supreme Court justices like Thurgood Marshall. Their earthly remains are there -- beneath the sod.
Travel to Mount Vernon and you can snap a picture of the tomb of George Washington. Go to Philadelphia and you'll find Benjamin Franklin. In Boston, walk the Freedom Trail and you'll go by the graves of Samuel Adams and other Revolutionary War figures.
In Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris, you'll find Guy de Maupassant, the writer. Jean Paul Sartre, the famous existentialist philosopher, is buried there too, and Simone de Beauvoir, his lifelong companion, is buried on top of him or above him.
At Pere LaChaise in Paris, you'll find the composer Chopin. His remains are right there, crowded in among thousands of others like Oscar Wilde and The Doors' Jim Morrison. Napoleon lies in a magnificent vault in Paris. If you know where to look, you can find many others, such as Voltaire and Victor Hugo.
Some famous people are interred in churches. At the Church of Santa Crocia in Florence, you'll find Galileo and Michelangelo. There -- lying in a church.
In Rome, the remains of popes lie in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica, and the remains of the apostles Peter and Paul are said to be in Rome as well.
Of course, I sometimes visit the grave sites of people who are not famous -- like my family. I've got aunts and uncles in marked graves in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I have family members in plots in the little village of Clarksville, Iowa. My dad is buried in a small rural cemetery outside of Fort Lupton, Colorado. I visit these graves to remember. It helps to locate the place where the mortal remains of my loved ones are interred.
I've got pictures of all these places, and the tombstones and markers of people who lie beneath or within.
But I've traveled to Israel too, more than once. And every time I go to the garden tomb where they laid Jesus over 2,000 years ago, I take pictures.
Every time it's the same. The tomb is open. It's empty.
He is not there.
He is risen.
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit, Series IV, Cycle C (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 2003), pp. 65-66.
Easter Cookies?
by Constance Berg
John 20:1-18
Usually we celebrate Easter with chocolate bunnies and sugared chicks, dyed eggs or flower crosses. But one year, a neighboring church helped us celebrate Easter in a most unusual but meaningful way. We made Easter Cookies the day before.
This is how it is done:
Easter Story Cookies
(To be made the evening before Easter)
You will need:
1 cup whole pecans
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 egg whites
a pinch salt
1 cup sugar
zipper baggie
wooden spoon
masking tape -- any size
Bible
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Place pecans in the zipper baggie and let the children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3.
Let each child smell the vinegar. Put one teaspoon vinegar into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink. It didn't taste very good. Read John 19:28-30.
Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave his life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11.
Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27.
So far the ingredients are not very appetizing. Add 1 cup of sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because he loves us. He wants us to know and belong to him. Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.
Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.
Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid. Read Matthew 27:57-60.
Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door, and turn off the oven. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed. Read Matthew 27:65-66.
Tell the children it's time to go home and explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers were sad when the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20 and 22.
On Easter morning, after the children arrive, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! Explain that on the first Easter Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read Matthew 28:1-9.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
Happy Easter!
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit, Series III, Cycle C (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 2000), pp. 72-73.
A Shroud Unto Life
by Richard A. Jensen
Luke 24:1-12
Who will ever forget those first pictures? There were pictures of starving men and starving women and starving children. These pictures stunned the world when they first hit our television screens. There were pictures of Ethiopia and an incredible famine. Millions of lives were at risk. And the world hardly knew about it until we saw the pictures.
It was the pictures of the starving children that probably carried the most power. Babies sucking desperately at mother's empty breast, sucking for their life. Large brown eyes filled with tears and flies and fear. Their stomachs were distended and bodies unimaginably lean. Innocent young lives were being snuffed out. The world shook its head in disbelief.
The pictures, of course, motivated the world to action. Relief agencies from all over the world began to pour into Ethiopia. Christian organizations from our country also rushed to the scene of the disaster. Kathleen O'Meara was sent to Ethiopia on behalf of her church. Kathleen looked forward to the challenge. She had offered her life to her church for just such an occasion and now she would have a chance for service to humankind that would call forth her best gifts of serving.
When Ms. O'Meara arrived in Ethiopia, however, she was nearly overwhelmed by the devastating power of the famine. She was assigned to work in a feeding station in the northern part of Ethiopia. She went north with a convoy of trucks bearing sack upon sack of food. After two days of arduous travel the caravan finally arrived at its destination. Kathleen had seen many people along the roadside on the way north begging for food. At the feeding station, however, starving people were just about all she saw. It seemed that for as far as her eye could see she saw nothing but starving, dying people. There were faint sounds from the youngest children. There were wails of despair from the lips of many of the women. There was an utter look of resignation and defeat in the eyes of men whose bodies were long and gaunt.
Now there was work to be done. Kathleen was assigned to help distribute the many sacks of food that had been brought by the convoy. Sacks! Night and day that's all she would think of; all she could do. She saw those sacks in her troubled sleep each night. Sacks of food that could bring life. Sacks were her mission and her hope.
For Kathleen it was a daily round with the life-giving sacks of food. She came to see those sacks in her mind as a kind of symbol of hope in the midst of the devastation. Then one day her eyes caught sight of an event that shattered her vision of the sacks as life-giving agents. That day she saw several hundred dead Ethiopians being carried to their graves in a funeral shroud. To her dismay the empty food sacks had now been filled with dead bodies. Sacks of life had become shrouds of death.
The bitter irony of it all was almost too much for Ms. O'Meara. Sacks of life had become shrouds of death. She pondered deeply on this awful turn of events. ''What the world needs,'' she mused to herself, ''is for someone wrapped in the shrouds of death to bring new life and hope to the world.'' Sacks of life had become shrouds of death. What if a shroud of death became a garment of life? Would anyone believe such a story? Or would the world pass it off as just an idle tale?
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit: 57 Stories For Cycle C (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 1994), pp. 57-58.
*****************************************
StoryShare, March 31, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"Where's Jesus?" by Timothy F. Merrill
"Easter Cookies?" by Contance Berg
"A Shroud Unto Life" by Richard A. Jensen
* * * * * * * *
Where's Jesus?
by Timothy F. Merrill
Luke 24:1-12
I have a hobby that some people might think odd, if not perverse. I like to take pictures of the tombstones of famous people. That's why, in my travels, I visit the local cemetery.
I've visited the catacombs in Rome and in Paris -- full of dead men's bones, unknown and forgotten by history.
But visit Arlington National Cemetery and you'll find the grave of President John F. Kennedy and of some Supreme Court justices like Thurgood Marshall. Their earthly remains are there -- beneath the sod.
Travel to Mount Vernon and you can snap a picture of the tomb of George Washington. Go to Philadelphia and you'll find Benjamin Franklin. In Boston, walk the Freedom Trail and you'll go by the graves of Samuel Adams and other Revolutionary War figures.
In Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris, you'll find Guy de Maupassant, the writer. Jean Paul Sartre, the famous existentialist philosopher, is buried there too, and Simone de Beauvoir, his lifelong companion, is buried on top of him or above him.
At Pere LaChaise in Paris, you'll find the composer Chopin. His remains are right there, crowded in among thousands of others like Oscar Wilde and The Doors' Jim Morrison. Napoleon lies in a magnificent vault in Paris. If you know where to look, you can find many others, such as Voltaire and Victor Hugo.
Some famous people are interred in churches. At the Church of Santa Crocia in Florence, you'll find Galileo and Michelangelo. There -- lying in a church.
In Rome, the remains of popes lie in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica, and the remains of the apostles Peter and Paul are said to be in Rome as well.
Of course, I sometimes visit the grave sites of people who are not famous -- like my family. I've got aunts and uncles in marked graves in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I have family members in plots in the little village of Clarksville, Iowa. My dad is buried in a small rural cemetery outside of Fort Lupton, Colorado. I visit these graves to remember. It helps to locate the place where the mortal remains of my loved ones are interred.
I've got pictures of all these places, and the tombstones and markers of people who lie beneath or within.
But I've traveled to Israel too, more than once. And every time I go to the garden tomb where they laid Jesus over 2,000 years ago, I take pictures.
Every time it's the same. The tomb is open. It's empty.
He is not there.
He is risen.
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit, Series IV, Cycle C (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 2003), pp. 65-66.
Easter Cookies?
by Constance Berg
John 20:1-18
Usually we celebrate Easter with chocolate bunnies and sugared chicks, dyed eggs or flower crosses. But one year, a neighboring church helped us celebrate Easter in a most unusual but meaningful way. We made Easter Cookies the day before.
This is how it is done:
Easter Story Cookies
(To be made the evening before Easter)
You will need:
1 cup whole pecans
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 egg whites
a pinch salt
1 cup sugar
zipper baggie
wooden spoon
masking tape -- any size
Bible
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Place pecans in the zipper baggie and let the children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3.
Let each child smell the vinegar. Put one teaspoon vinegar into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink. It didn't taste very good. Read John 19:28-30.
Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave his life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11.
Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27.
So far the ingredients are not very appetizing. Add 1 cup of sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because he loves us. He wants us to know and belong to him. Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.
Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.
Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid. Read Matthew 27:57-60.
Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door, and turn off the oven. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed. Read Matthew 27:65-66.
Tell the children it's time to go home and explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers were sad when the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20 and 22.
On Easter morning, after the children arrive, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! Explain that on the first Easter Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read Matthew 28:1-9.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
Happy Easter!
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit, Series III, Cycle C (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 2000), pp. 72-73.
A Shroud Unto Life
by Richard A. Jensen
Luke 24:1-12
Who will ever forget those first pictures? There were pictures of starving men and starving women and starving children. These pictures stunned the world when they first hit our television screens. There were pictures of Ethiopia and an incredible famine. Millions of lives were at risk. And the world hardly knew about it until we saw the pictures.
It was the pictures of the starving children that probably carried the most power. Babies sucking desperately at mother's empty breast, sucking for their life. Large brown eyes filled with tears and flies and fear. Their stomachs were distended and bodies unimaginably lean. Innocent young lives were being snuffed out. The world shook its head in disbelief.
The pictures, of course, motivated the world to action. Relief agencies from all over the world began to pour into Ethiopia. Christian organizations from our country also rushed to the scene of the disaster. Kathleen O'Meara was sent to Ethiopia on behalf of her church. Kathleen looked forward to the challenge. She had offered her life to her church for just such an occasion and now she would have a chance for service to humankind that would call forth her best gifts of serving.
When Ms. O'Meara arrived in Ethiopia, however, she was nearly overwhelmed by the devastating power of the famine. She was assigned to work in a feeding station in the northern part of Ethiopia. She went north with a convoy of trucks bearing sack upon sack of food. After two days of arduous travel the caravan finally arrived at its destination. Kathleen had seen many people along the roadside on the way north begging for food. At the feeding station, however, starving people were just about all she saw. It seemed that for as far as her eye could see she saw nothing but starving, dying people. There were faint sounds from the youngest children. There were wails of despair from the lips of many of the women. There was an utter look of resignation and defeat in the eyes of men whose bodies were long and gaunt.
Now there was work to be done. Kathleen was assigned to help distribute the many sacks of food that had been brought by the convoy. Sacks! Night and day that's all she would think of; all she could do. She saw those sacks in her troubled sleep each night. Sacks of food that could bring life. Sacks were her mission and her hope.
For Kathleen it was a daily round with the life-giving sacks of food. She came to see those sacks in her mind as a kind of symbol of hope in the midst of the devastation. Then one day her eyes caught sight of an event that shattered her vision of the sacks as life-giving agents. That day she saw several hundred dead Ethiopians being carried to their graves in a funeral shroud. To her dismay the empty food sacks had now been filled with dead bodies. Sacks of life had become shrouds of death.
The bitter irony of it all was almost too much for Ms. O'Meara. Sacks of life had become shrouds of death. She pondered deeply on this awful turn of events. ''What the world needs,'' she mused to herself, ''is for someone wrapped in the shrouds of death to bring new life and hope to the world.'' Sacks of life had become shrouds of death. What if a shroud of death became a garment of life? Would anyone believe such a story? Or would the world pass it off as just an idle tale?
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit: 57 Stories For Cycle C (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 1994), pp. 57-58.
*****************************************
StoryShare, March 31, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
