[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Easter Day

[Joe Parrish]

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-----Original Message-----
From: Fr HC Smith <howard.smith at anglican.org.au>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Tue, Apr 19, 2011 7:00 am
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Easter Day


Friends,

I was a bit caught up last week and didn't get round to producing any notes. 

Here are some thoughts towards a sermon for Easter Day based on the reading 

from Colossians.



Howard

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*    Well, at last it's Easter Day - after all the preparations, all the 

waiting, all the sorrow and solemn services of Good Friday, we've arrived!

+    For Christians, and especially Anglican Christians, this is the

    most important time of the whole year;

    -    this is the only occasion when our Prayer Book suggests we

        ought to “make our Communion”, whilst at the same time

        gently hinting that we could do well to receive communion

        quite regularly.

    -    Did you know that our Greek Orthodox friends have a special

        greeting they use at this time of the year?

    -    instead of saying "Hello, How are you" etc, they say: "Christ

        is risen", and the reply is: "He is risen indeed."

*    I know I don’t understand all about this Resurrection business, I can't 

explain how it all happened, but I do know that the followers of Jesus back 

in the 1st century were pretty sure that something significant happened, 

three days after Jesus had been executed.

+    Then, about 30 years later, Paul worked out some rather

    important ideas about what the Resurrection meant, and these

    same ideas are just as valuable for us in the 21st century

    -    we read something of this in the reading today from the letter he 

wrote to the

        Christians in the city of Colossae, in what we now know as Turkey: 

he says in effect:

    -    "the risen Christ gives meaning to your life" (repeat)

+    I reckon he's suggesting to us ‘Turn the way you look at  things upside 

down’:

    instead of wondering how we can explain Jesus by what we

    know about life and the universe, we should try explaining our

    life by what we know about Jesus.

+    We normally think of our life as being limited to this earth, and

    that it's all brought to an end when we die;

+    But Paul says to us: how about you think of your life as getting

    ready for God’s Real World : "think about what's there, not what's here 

on earth".

+    Thinking along those lines means to think about the kinds of

    truth and value which Jesus taught about:

    -    the kinds of values which are stronger even than death:

    -    things like love, forgiveness, compassion, relationships, care

        for others: put those thoughts in the front of your mind.

+    The Resurrection Good News teaches us that those attitudes

    are much more enduring than power, money, fame,  selfishness, cruelty, 

war, violence:

    -    ideas and events which flood our modern media day after

        day, and because we are confronted by them so often we

        tend to think that they are highly important.

*    But on this great Festival Day we are invited to let the Resurrection 

fill our minds, rather than all those media events.

+    The Resurrection is the visible sign that all those ideas and

    events which do fill our minds will, in fact, pass away.

+    Paul says to us: Don't worry too much about all those passing,

    limited, destructive, thought patterns: like anger, insults,

    sniping, greed, prejudice;

    -    instead set your minds on God’s Real World: motivate your

        thought patterns with love, peacefulness, forgiveness,

        compassion, relationships, care for others:

+    If we can do that then we'll be able to get on with living

    creatively in the present, despite all the troubles and

    difficulties we face every day, realising they're not all that

    important after all.



*    This Easter renew your baptismal promises to let the risen

    Christ be your guide through life,

    -    let the power of his life-giving, inspiring love fill you,

    -    share that love with other people,

    -    and you will discover that your problems aren't nearly as bad

        as they seem at present.

+    Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!





* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Rev'd Dr H.C. Smith

Retired Anglican Priest

Orange NSW

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 






 
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