As we gather round this table We remember and proclaim Christ has died, Christ is risen Christ will come again There's nothing to fear and everything to gain And so we gather here to remember To remember and proclaim
On Easter Sunday, I asked the kids to count the number of times they heard me say “Resurrection” or “Resurrected” during my sermon. I forgot to ask them at the end to give a report, but after the service the counts I heard were 28, 30, 32…. In my manuscript I counted 23, but I went off script several times. Regardless, the word “Resurrection” rang out multiple times, and it still wasn’t enough!
Welcome to Easter Season, 50 days of focus—note the Pentecostal foreshadowing—50 days of focus on the Resurrection of Jesus. This is why we gather each Sunday. We are participants in the Resurrection of our Lord, Brother, and Friend, and weekly we return to hear and tell the Story, to praise and give thanks, and to receive again the Resurrected Life of Christ in Word and Sacrament—the weekly remembrance that our lives “are hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:3-4).
Every footstep tells the story As the people join the feast We remember his blood and body Broken for you and me One step and we remember The other we proclaim
Christ has died, Christ is risen Christ will come again
Those footsteps walk from the world, to the Table, and then back into the world again. The Resurrection of Jesus and its eternally unfolding implications are to be explored, experienced, and shared with each other, and then communicated to our families, friends, neighbors, and enemies. We need each other to do this, and we need the Holy Spirit that the Resurrected Jesus asks our Father to send us—note again the Pentecostal foreshadowing!
Consider your weekly presence at Beville a gift to your Immanuel family, an offering of thanksgiving to our Father, and a preparation for receiving the move of the Holy Spirit in and through you. And all of this and more because of the Resurrection of Jesus.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia
Your Pastor in the Resurrected Christ,
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