<font color='black' size='4' face='Times New Roman, Times, serif'><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The Easter Choice</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>When faced with new
realities, you have at least three options for how to respond (and it
is nearly certain that you will opt for one of these three
possibilities). First, you can stay bewildered. You can let this event
knock you flat on your back and then stay there. Second, you can engage
in world-class denial. You can look at the facts and ignore them. Or
third, you can, slowly perhaps, assimilate this new information. You may
get knocked as flat on your back as the next person by this new
realization, but eventually you pick yourself up. You embrace this new
truth and then go through the long, sometimes painful, process of
re-assessing life in the light of this new evidence.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>This is the Easter
choice. When faced with the incredible proclamation that Jesus rose
again from the dead, you can be agnostic and cynical by saying that you
don't know what to make of this but then neither are you going to try.
Who cares anyway? Or you can deny it. The whole thing is fiction,
fantasy, a pious wish but something that never really happened. Or you
can move past the shock toward acceptance. But let me caution you: if
you are going to accept the truth of the bodily resurrection, you need
to let it change you totally.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>That's the Easter
choice. The problem for most of us is that we are not surprised enough
by Easter to realize we face a choice. Easter is a part of the
background scenery of our lives. We've never been afraid of Easter,
never been bewildered by it. Believing that Jesus rose again from the
dead becomes a little like believing the earth is round and that it
orbits the sun. Once upon a time people didn't know that. They thought
the earth was flat and that the sun orbited the earth. It caused quite a
stir when this view had to be revised. But that was a long time ago and
now we accept that picture of our solar system without much thought.
Sure the world is round and we orbit the sun, but what does that have to
do with anything? It doesn't change what I have to do at work tomorrow,
does it?</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Is that what Easter
becomes for us? We believe it happened but then, we've always believed
that. Even Easter has somehow become part of the "routines" of this
world. So why would it have much of an effect on what we do tomorrow?
Easter is no longer shocking for us--it surely does not make us
re-evaluate everything else we think we know. And anyway, we're not sure
we want to have everything in our lives changed.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Of course, if we
can believe in the resurrection at all, it is a gift of faith granted to
us by the prior gift of grace. But if we have received that grace and
accept the truth that gets proclaimed from every Christian pulpit in the
world each Easter Sunday morning, then we have to know that this truth
changes everything. This is not some fact we can ponder just once every
twelve months. This changes everything.... and on EVERY day.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>________________________ </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>What You Love Will Not Be Spared</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>In recent weeks, I
have been reading a powerful book of poetry by Louise Glück, entitled
Averno. The title Averno takes its name from a crater lake in southern
Italy that during the time of ancient Rome was thought to be the
entrance to the underworld. In one of Glück's most haunting poems in
this collection, called October, she contemplates the season of autumn
and the gradual, day-by-day dimming of light that goes along with that
time of the year. Her poem is about cold winds and changing leaves, but
is also, of course, about us, for we cannot escape the eventual fading
of the light. In stark terms, she writes, "You will not be spared, nor
will what you love be spared." When I first read those words, I had a
physical reaction to them. A sharp pain squeezed my forehead, and I
began to weep. I wept because these words are undeniably true, and I
wept because I hate their truth. Sure, there are times when I grapple
with the fact of my own mortality, but I don't ever want to be told that
the people who I love will not be spared. Don't tell me that they won't
survive this life--not one of them. I imagine that the sight of the
empty tomb hit the three visiting women like that...what you love will
not be spared.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Easter begins with
fear. At least that's the way Mark tells it. It's not that Easter begins
with wild panic--no, not that. Easter begins with the kind of fear that
feels a lot like heart-break. It begins with the twist in your stomach
that comes when the phone rings and you hear the voice of your sister.
"Are you sitting down?" she asks--that kind of fear. <br>
<br>
Early in
the morning, three women approach the tomb bearing precious herbs and
oils to wash the body of their Lord. They have come to comb out Jesus'
hair, to sponge away the dried blood, to massage precious myrrh into his
skin. They hope to engage in the ritual act (the act of care) that is
traditionally done before sealing a body in the tomb. They have come to
anoint the crucified one. Yet, even as they discuss how they will gain
access to the cave (after all, it is closed by a massive boulder), they
find that the stone has been rolled away. The tomb is empty--vacant,
except for some young guy who is definitely not Jesus; and suddenly,
they are afraid. They fear that their last chance to pour a little
compassion on the broken body of Jesus has escaped. They fear that they
are witnessing the final insult of this whole horrible affair. First,
Jesus' life is stolen, and now, even his body has been taken. And,
perhaps, they also fear... no, they simply must fear that death has won.
Death, the ever-ravenous monster, has finally, and utterly, swallowed
up their beloved friend.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Scott Black Johnston, Deadly Things</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>_____________________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Ongoing Easter</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Ongoing Easter gets
us finally home at last, for life is not an endless circle but life is
moving to an end point. The crowning achievement of the risen Lord is to
bring us finally home together with the whole family of God in that
transition from time into eternity. It is a great privilege to witness
that transition in the lives of people and I think of one this Easter
day. Her name was Augusta. She lived 100 years, raised in the prairies
of South Dakota, faced every manner of hardship and heartache, but was
buoyant and lived on the resurrection side of the cross, raised a
family. In the last hour of her life standing with her daughters around
her in the hospital room, I heard her bless her daughters. Being a
mother to the very end and with a twinkle in her eye, looked at the
faces of her daughters around her and pointed to them each one and said,
"Too much lipstick," and then closed her eyes in peaceful death.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>That is the goal
toward which the ongoing Easter draws us and transforms our dark, gloomy
mornings into a shining doxology. We say with all the faithful of all
of the ages, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By
His great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance that is
imperishable, unfailing and undefiled, kept in heaven for you. Though
you must go through various trials, all this is so that your faith may
redound to the praise, glory and honor of Jesus Christ. Without having
seen Him, we love Him, and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy. The
outcome of your faith is the salvation of your souls.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>F. Dean Lueking, Ongoing Easter</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>_____________________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The Legend of the Touchstone</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Do you remember the
Legend of the Touchstone? It's a great story to recall on Easter Sunday
morning. According to that ancient legend, if you could find the
touchstone on the coast of the Black Sea and hold it in your hand,
everything you touched would turn to gold. You could recognize the
touchstone by its warmth. The other stones would feel cold, but when you
picked up the touchstone, it would turn warm in your hand.<br>
<br>
Once a
man sold everything he had and went to the coast of the Black Sea in
search of the touchstone. He began immediately to walk along the
shoreline picking up one stone after another in his diligent and
intentional search for the touchstone. He was consumed with this dream.
He wanted desperately to find this miraculous stone. However, after
several days had passed, he suddenly realized that he was picking up the
same stones again and again. So he devised a plan... pick up a stone;
if it's cold, throw it into the sea. This he did for weeks and weeks.<br>
<br>
Then
one morning he went out to continue his search for the touchstone. He
picked up a stone; it was cold... he threw it into the sea. He picked up
another stone - cold! He threw it into the sea. He picked up another
stone... it turned warm in his hand, and before he realized what he was
doing... he threw it into the sea!<br>
<br>
That's a good parable for
Easter, isn't it? Because that can so easily happen to us. We can come
upon a miraculous moment like Easter... we can feel it turn warm in our
hands... but then (so dulled by the routine) before we realize what we
are doing... we throw it away. Absentmindedly, mechanically,
nonchalantly... we toss it aside and miss the miracle of Easter.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>James W. Moore, Lenten Series on Mark, <a shape="rect">www.Sermons.com</a> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>__________________<br>
</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span><br>
Humor: The Gospel Has Been Proclaimed</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A first year
student in a Catholic seminary was told by the dean that he should plan
to preach the sermon in chapel the following day. He had never preached a
sermon before, he was nervous and afraid, and he stayed up all night,
but in the morning, he didn't have a sermon. He stood in the pulpit,
looked out at his classmates and said "Do you know what I am going to
say?" All of them shook their heads "no" and he said "Neither do I. The
service has ended. Go in peace."<br>
<br>
The dean was not happy. "I'll
give you another chance tomorrow, and you had better have a sermon."
Again he stayed up all night; and again he couldn't come up with a
sermon. Next morning, he stood in the pulpit and asked "Do you know what
I am going to say?" The students all nodded their heads "yes." "Then
there is no reason to tell you" he said. "The service has ended. Go in
peace."<br>
<br>
Now the dean was angry. "I'll give you one more chance;
if you don't have a sermon tomorrow, you will be asked to leave the
seminary." Again, no sermon came. He stood in the pulpit the next day
and asked "Do you know what I am going to say?" Half of the students
nodded "yes" and the other half shook their heads "no." The student
preacher then announced "Those who know, tell those who don't know. The
service has ended. Go in peace."<br>
<br>
The seminary dean walked over to
the student, put his arm over the student's shoulders, and said "Those
who know, tell those who don't know. Today, the gospel has been
proclaimed."<br>
<br>
Steven Molin<br>
____________________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Old Clothes</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>When I was a girl, I
spent a lot of time in the woods, which were full of treasures for me.
At night I lined them up on my bed: fat flakes of mica, buckeyes bigger
than shooter marbles, blue jay feathers, bird bones and -- if I was
lucky -- a cicada shell, one of those dry brown bug bodies you can find
on tree trunks when the 17-year locusts come out of the ground. I liked
them for at least two reasons.<br>
<br>
First, because they were horrible
looking, with their huge empty eye sockets and their six sharp little
claws. By hanging them on my sweater or -- better yet -- in my hair, I
could usually get the prettier, more popular girls at school to run
screaming away from me, which somehow evened the score.<br>
<br>
I also
liked them because they were evidence that a miracle had occurred. They
looked dead, but they weren't. They were just shells. Every one of them
had a neat slit down its back, where the living creature inside of it
had escaped, pulling new legs, new eyes, new wings out of that dry brown
body and taking flight. At night I could hear them singing their high
song in the trees. If you had asked them, I'll bet none of them could
have told you where they left their old clothes.<br>
<br>
That is all the disciples saw when they got to the tomb on that first morning --two piles of old clothes.<br>
<br>
Barbara Brown Taylor, "Escape From the Tomb," article in The Christian Century, April 1, 1998, page 339.<br>
_________________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>When Is Easter This Year?<br>
<br>
In an article in The Christian Century, history professor Steve Ware asks the question, "When Is Easter this year?"<br>
<br>
For
those of you who didn't learn this in confirmation class, the date of
Easter corresponds to the first Sunday after the first full moon after
the vernal equinox. Seriously.<br>
<br>
In his article, Ware explains how
this came to be. Here's the short version of the story: In 325 A.D.,
Constantine, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, convened the Council of
Nicea. Among the business before the council was to establish a uniform
date for Easter. Out of the discussion and debate came the "Easter
Rule," setting Easter, as I said, on the first Sunday after the first
full moon after the vernal equinox. As is often the case with church
councils, the decision was not unanimous. The Eastern bishops wanted to
schedule Easter in conjunction with the Jewish Festival of Passover
since, after all, Jesus went to Jerusalem, in the first place, to
celebrate Passover. The Western bishops preferred a date corresponding
with the beginning of spring, because that was the time already
established for a lot of pagan celebrations, and they figured to
capitalize on the momentum. This is why, to this day, we have such
things as the Easter Bunny and colored eggs associated with Easter.
Well, on this, and other issues, the church eventually split. To this
day, we, who are descendents of the Western line of Christendom, use a
different calendar than the Eastern Orthodox churches. Sometimes our
celebration of Easter falls on the same day, and sometimes it varies by
as much as five weeks!<br>
<br>
</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The rest of this
illustration and many additional illustrations and sermons, including
many resources for Holy Week and Easter, can be accessed at <a shape="rect" target="_blank" __removedlink__2083058485__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001Ff4czflkng7V_BUDMwg-Zj9xFLXAaFdR-L-HJO8PEO-sDhtzr9RldqPX5p0jJTggOpmJ8mfMYvY2njYwT5c-7LKMb494iitDZgiBaUtfKss=">www.Sermons.com</a>. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
</span></font>