Easter Sunday Faith Chapel

Pastoral Welcome

He is risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Welcome in the room and on the live-stream

Participate at home the same way you would here

I am Pastor Lewis one of the pastors here at Ankeny First, it is good to be with you!

Today is a day of joy, and of celebration, and praise.

So I would invite you to stand as you are able as we go to God in praise today

Call to Worship

We thought you were dead.

We thought the cross was the end.

We thought that when the stone rolled over the tomb,

that was it.

But this is it:

the dead are living;

the cross is empty;

the stone is rolled,

and one word describes it all:

Alleluia!

Jesus is risen!

We thought you had said your final word.

We thought those with the power had won.

We thought that when you cried out,

that was it.

But this is it:

the word breathes;

the powers are defeated;

the final cry was only the beginning,

and one word says it all:

Alleluia!

Jesus is risen!

We thought the story was finished.

We thought the hope had ended.

We thought that when the tomb was sealed,

that was it.

But this is it:

the story has just begun;

the hope is newly born;

the tomb is empty,

and one word says it all:

Alleluia!

Jesus is risen!

This is the news:

Jesus is risen!

This is the moment

Jesus is alive!

This is the gospel

Jesus is with us!

We thought that when they crucified you,

death had defeated life,

and that was it.

But this is it:

Love is stronger than death,

and one word says it all:

Alleluia!

Jesus is risen!

Pastoral Prayer

Lord so often we too go through difficult times and can’t find you.

Perhaps we, too, are looking in the wrong places.

You are always with us,

but often in ways that defy our expectations.

Just as the tomb couldn’t limit You,

neither can we.

Open our minds, ears, eyes, and hearts

to all the ways that you dwell in our midst.

lord in your mercy; Hear Our Prayer

We seek life from the death of the past.

We hold to that which breathes only in our memory;

to mistakes long past; to hurts long inflicted;

to strings attached to forgiveness.

lord in your mercy; Hear Our Prayer

There are many places of death that we find ourselves caught in between

May we find Your peace in things that once gave us anxiety.

May we experience healing in the places

that have been hurting for too long.

May we see your presence in all the times

that we always thought we were alone.

As we celebrate the empty tomb,

we rejoice that death does not have the final victory,

but rather that life, love, and goodness prevail.

lord in your mercy; Hear Our Prayer

Forgive us, God, for our disbelief—

for seeing an empty tomb and thinking a cruel trick;

for discovering a discarded burial cloth

yet still holding to death;

for hearing words of life but keeping them to ourselves.

Restore us even in our unbelief. Amen.

lord in your mercy; Hear Our Prayer

Lord, some pieces of ourselves feel

like they have been dead forever

and other things so affect our living that although we breathe,

we feel dead within.

We lift up to you all that is within us in this moment of silent worship

lord in your mercy; Hear Our Prayer

Risen Christ, when darkness overwhelms us

may your dawn beckon.

When fear paralyses us

may your touch release us.

When grief torments us

may your peace enfold us.

When memories haunt us

may your presence heal us.

When justice fails us

may your anger ignite us.

When apathy stagnates us

may your challenge renew us.

When courage leaves us

may your spirit inspire us.

When despair grips us

may your hope restore us.

And when death threatens us

may your resurrection light lead us.

We pray now with the confidence of the children of God the prayer you taught us saying....

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Amen.

Celebration

The Sunday school made stuff for the senior living community

Easter Mission Offering

Sermon

Camping

Early April

Over the winter a lot of things died, but campers have not yet been out to the campgrounds so there is plenty of dead things to pick from

I set up camp and decided that I was ready to go look for firewood for the fire

There were places that were alive and there were places that were dead.

I went into the pile of the dead limbs and it was so tried that entire logs I was able to basically bread right off the branch

It would crazy to think that anything living could be among the dead and the rotting trees.

I have had some experience camping and this is kind of a rarity, what I am used to is having to search for things that are dead to use as firewood.

As I was reflecting on this experience last week I had our Easter scripture passage in my mind.

We hear the question in our passage “why do you look for the living among the dead?”

The fulfillent of the Cross of Christ series comes through this passage

If we hear of the cross without ressurection we will have a religion of death

Sin

Power of the cross

Rescue

Justice

Freedom Sacrifice

Are all perfected because of the resurrection.

Scripture

Luke 24:1–12 NRSV

1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

Making sense of the scripture

Picking up from the Good Friday passage -

it was the women that were the first witnesses to the empty tomb and the women that went from that place to tell the story to others.

They heard the cries of “my God, my God why are you forsaking me”

The women were grieving

It was just after they lost someone so significant to them.

And when you loose someone close to you that is all you can think about

All they think about it death

All they can think about is all of planning involved in the death

They are no doubt still processing and making sense of what all has happened

Dawn

of God's revelation, of new opportunities, of a season of life that is marked by newness. A time in which the day gets reset and what is in the past can be left in the past and what is on the horizon is newness.

God is doing something in our midst opening a new dawn, stop dwelling on death

No stone, no body, and two people that are badazzled

Okay maybe the scripture just says that they were dazzled

The question “Why do look for the living among the dead?”

Was perhaps the first time that the fog kind of cleared from their grief brain

It was the question that brought the women from death to life

It was the question that helped to pierce through their grief brain

We have new life through Christ’s Resurrection

The first and perhaps most shocking part of the story for us is that new life is offered.

That we are directed from death to life

New life is offered both personally and corporately

For the individual sins we are offered a new way or seeing the world

For the corporate sins Christ has proclaimed victory over them.

A couple weeks ago new Adam

Christ’s Resurrection is representative of our own story

He is risen and you are in some way risen as well and offered new life in and through Christ.

It is in some way that we rose from that tomb as well

C.S. Lewis

Jesus is Lunatic, Liar, or Lord

Lunatic

Liar

Lord

This passage calls us to seek the living saviour and the life that saviour offers

When we don’t find life we get desperate

We choose what is dead because it is safe and familiar

The women were returning to the grave, because what else would they have done

This was what was safe and familiar

the very core of all that they believed was shaken and so they did what was safe and comfortable.

Water in the desert

Willingness to drink even toilet water

We choose safe, comfortable and familiar often

We choose to rely on old patterns of anger, resentment, and control

We choose to rely on the God’s of consumerism, comfort, and safety, even when we know that they over promise and under deliver time and again.

Notice the women’s reaction to the news…they were terrified faces burred in the ground

The women were terrified when the angels appeared - often we are actually comfortable honoring death and when new life is presented to us it is scary

Notice Peter’s Reaction

One of denial

You wouldn’t believe me if I told you

Death is just soooo final

This is beyond the very imagination of the disciples

If it were believable it wouldn’t be miraculous

If it were something that humanity could even make sense of it wouldn’t be something that was truly amazing.

When we don’t find life we get desperate

And desperate people do desperate things

We go to dead places time and time again expecting to find life there

Jesus is not to be thought of as dead therefore he cannot be found amongst the dead

Remember where life can be found

Luke 24:5 NRSV

5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.

Luke 24:6 NRSV

6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,

When the women got to the graveyard they didn’t even know that life was an option

He had told them more than once before what could happen

But they were not open to hearing the good news

Perhaps you have heard the news that new life can be found in Jesus but have lost track of that

In our culture here in Ankeny I am willing to bet that very few people show up to an Easter service without at least a small idea of who Jesus is

But we all show up to Easter service seeking newness of life

Seeking to feel alive perhaps for the first time, or maybe to feel alive once again

Jesus is not just a hero of the past

This isn’t just some simple story

Remember! People of God what you have heard

Remember Ankeny First What Christ has Told You

Remember We serve the living God

Remember where life can be found

Benediction

Remember where life can be found. Life can be found in the living God, go forth in God’s love, surrounded by God’s peace. He is Risen!