Past Messages (12/4/7)
EASTER 2012
Dear Friends,
John Donne, the 16th century mystic cleric, wrote as his preface to his Devotion No. 17,“Now this bell tolling softly for another, says to me, thou must die.”The deaths of some of some of Brooks Memorial United Methodist Church's family members, four funerals in the first two weeks of the year; the death of a grandmother & her four grandchildren by fire in NJ; and deaths from the tornadoes which killed 38 in the mid-west, remind us how uncertain life is and how certain death is. Death along with taxes are touted as the only two certain things in life. In a TV documentary it was pointed out that there are more people buried in the catacombs of the eternal city of Rome than live in and walk the streets of that city; a reminder as one pundit said, “You can’t get out of life alive.” Death comes to us all. The Christian is very clear about this; “Remember from dust you have come and to dust you return” is intoned over and over on Ash Wednesday. We know that the, “...wages of sin is death...” and “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;” (Romans 6:23a & 3:23)*.Death!
But as Paul wrote, If for this life only have we hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:19-22) But not only do we have hope for this life, we have hope for the life to come. Jesus did not give in to the temptations of this world, did not bow down and worship Satan, did not give in to the false promises of the kingdoms of this world, and because of this Jesus has given us the abundant life now and eternal life in the world to come. Because God the Eternal has intervened through Jesus the Christ, death, fame, celebrity, power and control which are all part of the kingdom of this world have in the words of Handel’s Messiah’s Hallelujah Chorus, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ”. Since Christ has been raised from the dead, as one centurion says to another in a cartoon as they look at Jesus’ tomb with the stone rolled away, “Well, this leaves only taxes as being certain.” Because while “...the wages of sin is death…the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) and the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ, death no longer has the final word. That word is from and is the Living Word who lives and reigns forever.
Hallelujah! Christ is Risen!
Pastor John
*Scripture quotations are from NRSV Bible (New Revised Standard Version)
