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<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Capes notes that “through the fourth
century</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>there is ample evidence that some
Christians, even Gentile</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Christians, continued to observe
sabbath.” The Christian theologian</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Tertullian, in
</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT><I><FONT face=BookAntiqua-Italic><FONT
face=BookAntiqua-Italic><FONT face=BookAntiqua-Italic>On Prayer
</I></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT color=#231f20 size=2 face=BookAntiqua><FONT
color=#231f20 size=2 face=BookAntiqua><FONT color=#231f20 size=2
face=BookAntiqua><FONT color=#000000 size=4>(c. 205), wrote as though
corporate</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>prayer on the sabbath were
commonplace, and the </FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT color=#231f20 size=2
face=BookAntiqua-Italic><FONT color=#231f20 size=2 face=BookAntiqua-Italic><FONT
color=#231f20 size=2 face=BookAntiqua-Italic><FONT color=#000000
size=4><EM>Apostolic</EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Constitutions
</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT color=#231f20 size=2 face=BookAntiqua><FONT
color=#231f20 size=2 face=BookAntiqua><FONT color=#231f20 size=2
face=BookAntiqua><FONT color=#000000 size=4>in the fourth century taught that
both sabbath and</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Sunday should be kept as festivals to
the Lord. “Those Christians</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>who maintained a sabbath practice
took their cue from the Lord</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>of the Sabbath, to whom the substance
of the new creation</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>belongs.”</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Emperor Constantine decreed in
</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT face=BookAntiqua><FONT face=BookAntiqua><FONT
face=BookAntiqua>A</FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT face=BookAntiqua><FONT
face=BookAntiqua><FONT face=BookAntiqua>.</FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT
face=BookAntiqua><FONT face=BookAntiqua><FONT
face=BookAntiqua>D</FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT color=#231f20 size=2
face=BookAntiqua><FONT color=#231f20 size=2 face=BookAntiqua><FONT color=#231f20
size=2 face=BookAntiqua><FONT color=#000000 size=4>. 321 that workers
should</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>rest on the venerable day of the Sun.
Over the next centuries,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Christian believers began resting on
Sunday and referring to the</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Lord’s Day as “the sabbath,”
attaching to the eighth day the</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4>significance that is given to the seventh day in
the Decalogue.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4><A
href="http://www.baylor.edu/christianethics/Sabbathstudyguide3.pdf">http://www.baylor.edu/christianethics/Sabbathstudyguide3.pdf</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000000
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Robert B. Kruschwitz, 2002</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000000 size=4>- - - -
-</FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000000
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4>
<DIV>You cannot force anyone to believe anything. I cannot make you believe
anything. God alone has that power. My calling is not to explain the
resurrection or to defend it but to share my experience of the resurrection and
to encourage you to experience it, to be uplifted by it.</DIV>
<DIV>As far as what the resurrection means, I can only tell you what I think it
means. To me, the resurrection means that the powers of evil do not have the
last word in the world or in your life. </DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000000
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000000 size=4><A
href="http://teamnoah.info/Stirred/joanna.html">http://teamnoah.info/Stirred/joanna.html</A></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000000
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Sarah M.
Foulger</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT
size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000000 size=4>- - - -
-</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4>In his stimulating & imaginative 'Ballad of
the Breadman', [The Sun Dancing, Kestrel, '82] Charles Causley portrays Jesus as
'charged with bringing the living to life'. I like that. For me it's a better
starting point than much of our usual church talk about 'bringing the dead to
life'. Aren't the living dead more priority than the dead dead? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4><A
href="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/laterallyluke/LLK24112EASTER.html">http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/laterallyluke/LLK24112EASTER.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000000
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Brian McGowan</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000000
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4>
<DIV>Maybe the news of Easter was simply too overwhelming for them to believe.
Many years ago, a friend told me that his young son was a great fan of both
Captain Kangaroo and Mister Rogers. The boy faithfully watched both of their
television shows, and one day it was announced that Mister Rogers would be
paying a visit to the Captain Kangaroo show. The boy was ecstatic. Both of his
heroes, together on the same show! Every morning the boy would ask, "Is it today
that Mister Rogers will be on Captain Kangaroo?" Finally the great day arrived,
and the whole family gathered around the television. There they were, Mister
Rogers and Captain Kangaroo together. The boy watched for a minute, but then,
surprisingly, got up and wandered from the room.</DIV>
<DIV>Puzzled, his father followed him and asked, "What is it, son? Is anything
wrong?"</DIV>
<DIV>"It’s too good," the boy replied. "It’s just too good."</DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000000
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000000 size=4><A
href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2166">http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2166</A></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT
color=#000000 size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><FONT size=4>Thomas G. Long, 2001</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Note the word "must" in verse 7: "the Son of Man
<I>must </I>(emphasis mine) be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on
the third day rise again." The death and resurrection of Jesus are not accidents
of history. The death of Jesus was not merely the result of human decisions,
even though human decisions played a crucial role. There was a divine purpose at
work. "Must" implies divine necessity. Herein lies a great mystery. On one hand,
human beings brought about the death of Jesus. Yet, in that very death the
purposes of God were accomplished. Human beings are responsible for the death of
Jesus. It is not God who brings about the death of His Son. Yet, when Jesus is
crucified by the hands of sinners, God has not ceased His activity in the events
of history. Even this awful death becomes the arena of God’s work in the
world.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4><A
href="http://www.cresourcei.org/lectionary/YearC/Ceaster1nt.html">http://www.cresourcei.org/lectionary/YearC/Ceaster1nt.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT color=#000000><FONT color=#000000
size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4>Jirair Tashjian</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000 size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000
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