“Ultimate Destinies“, by Rev. Angela Martin
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Easter Sunday has come and gone but thankfully, it is just the beginning. As surely as spring gives way to summer, Easter ushers us into a new season of growing into the person God is calling us to be. So what’s next? What are we to do with this re-discovered passion and excitement about what God has done for us through Jesus Christ?
Today we begin a new sermon series, “Encounters After the Resurrection”. We’ll begin this Sunday by holding vigil with Mary in the garden. On April 10th we’ll go with Jesus as he appears to the disciples behind locked doors and breathes into them the Holy Spirit. Next we’ll walk the Emmaus Road and be present as Cleopas discovers the risen Savior. On April 24th we’ll wonder at doubting Thomas and on the last Sunday of the month, we’ll sit around a charcoal fire on the edge of the Sea of Galilee with Jesus and the disciples and hear Jesus give Peter a second chance.
As singer-songwriter David Phelps wrote, “Easter is the end of the beginning.” What’s next for you? What will your new beginning be? Come worship with us in April and discover your answer!
~Angela
The Easter Word
John 20:11-18
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
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