“Revealed“, by Rev. Mike Holly
Today is Confirmation Sunday for our sixth graders. They are professing their faith and declaring their desire to join our church as full members today during the 11:00 am worship service. This decision is one of the most important that they will make in their lifetime. Their decision is vital, but it is also something that they did not achieve on their own. Their parents and families have brought them to church and to Sunday school. They have encouraged them to serve in missions and to attend youth group activities. They have personally taught them about our faith. These confirmands have families that have poured encouragement, information and love into them their entire lives.
At the same time, these students have also had the love and support of our church family as well. They have had nursery workers and VBS volunteers nurture them in the faith. They have received kindness and love as we pass the peace in worship or as they attend a Midweek Meetup meal. And they have had wonderful volunteers in Sunday school and other ministries where they have been guided and mentored in the faith. It takes the whole church to pass on the faith to the next generation.
So this morning we want to celebrate these wonderful young people and the decision that they are making. We welcome them into the faith and into our church family. But we also want to say thank you to everyone who made a difference in their lives to help them to be able to stand and kneel before us today.
~Mike
The Word
Luke 24:13-35
Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
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