Good Monday after Easter everyone! It was a wonderful, if not overly chilly day in San Marcos! Our youth did a superb job of leading and acting out the drama of the Resurrection during our sunrise service, held indoors in our Activities Building. Our other four services were equally well-attended and we praise God for the awesomeness of the day.
The sermon was on God's victory over death and how God's resurrection power is still ours to help lead us away from a spiritually dying faith into a faith that goes to work! So, this week we'll be talking about death and views surrounding it.
There is a correction in the study guide as my fingers misstyped the correct verse for today. It should be Matthew 16:28, not 18 as printed on the hard copy.
Monday: Read Matthew 16:28. Escaping death was something that spoke to the first converts to our faith. Then came the persecution against Christians and many were put to death. What are your thoughts on this situation?
"Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."
On Good Friday we buried a 98 year old woman from Austin. She was one I did not know personally but what her family shared about her, she was just like most of us would like to be if we live that long. She drove until she was 88, and until she was 89 she mowed her own lawn with a push mower! She did her own shopping and was fiercely independent. She was also a charter member of First UMC in Austin for fifty years. I spoke at her graveside about the kind of faith that says yes to a pastor with a vision of starting a new church. Death for her was just a part of life.
In the news the Schiavo pending death makes us uneasy and has polarized some about what is the correct action to take. The sad news of the little girl in Florida snatched from her room and murdered also bring us thoughts about death that we shouldn't have to have. Thoughts about what the culprit of that action make us wonder if death for him wouldn't be right or not.
It is our death that makes us wonder. Some of us don't like to even think about it. For many years I told my family I'd rather be surprised than to linger on knowing that life was slipping away. It took Nellie and I years before we could talk about it to them in terms of our wishes for cremation and where we wanted our ashes scattered. Fear of any kind is no longer welcome in those discussions.
Jesus came with a stronger message: Death has been conquered! Easter is our way of celebrating that for our loved ones now in Glory and for ourselves as well. Early Christians readily accepted the Christian faith as that which brought them hope given how relatively short lives were being lived during the time. Jesus' message was that we have a God of life who has planned for those who are God's to live their eternity with Him.
For many of us thankfully the worse persecution we face may be of the social kind. We may not run in circles that is opposed to the Christian way of life as a result of being "outcasts." But that should not serve as an excuse to abandon our faith and our way of life. For our earlier brothers and sister in the faith, persecution meant death.
We serve a God of life. Our days on the earth should be like those of Paul, "To live is Christ, to die is gain." Let each day of life serve as a way to share Him who came to die for us. And when our day comes to leave this earth, we'll gain the full knowledge and love of Christ.
PRAYER: God of life, bring us to resurrection faith. Let us quit our slumber and lingering; ignite our hearts to leap with joy at each day's challenge to share Jesus! We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
