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WALK BEFORE THE LORD - for Sunday, April 26, 2020

4/25/2020

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How do we live a resurrection faith? That's the question faced by disciples over the ages. We look at Psalm 116 and walk the road to Emmaus to clear our vision and face the new reality.

Barbara Tversky - mentioned last week - author of "Mind in Motion," describes a phenomenon called "change blindness." The effect is that changes to the usual or typical expectation are often not seen; we see what we expect to see or have typically seen before. Several examples, including a brief video, are included.

A resurrection faith calls us to notice the things that matter, to follow our Savior's lead toward the Kingdom.

The psalmist who authored Psalm 116 had a near-death experience and found that his trust in God was the answer that brought him new life. The ways of the world revealed their indifference and would have left him for dead. For God's life-giving blessing, the psalmist seeks only to "walk before the Lord."

Walking is where we start the passage from Luke about the two disciples journeying on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Why would they headed for Emmaus? Because it isn't Jerusalem where the leader of their group has recently been crucified. They likely fear further persecutions taking place - first the leader, then the followers.

They're suddenly joined in their walking by a stranger. They can't believe he doesn't know about recent events in Jerusalem. After they explain everything, the stranger chides them and begins reminding them all of the things that Jesus had been teaching them.

A stop at the inn reveals who this stranger is, but then he disappears! It is enough nevertheless for the two disciples to turn around and head back to Jerusalem. Before whom will they walk now?

Learn the whole story by watching the service video below.

04-26-20-ff-answers.pdf
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04-26-20-walk_before_the_lord.pdf
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EXPERIENCE IS BELIEVING - for Sunday, April 19, 2020

4/18/2020

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Was Thomas wrong to doubt? He becomes an object lesson for Jesus, but he reminds us that faith is not some abstract idea. The author of Psalm 16 shares his confidence in God all the way through death, not from authoritative right belief, but life experience. Check out the sermon video for the whole story.

Our modern society esteems learning abstractions. We cram it down the throats of students in schools. But our best learning is not from abstractions.

The psalmist in Psalm 16 knows the source of his blessings in their full depth and dimension. He is devoted to his God who he trusts will never abandon him. Even at death, he knows that God will care for him. Nothing abstract in the whole thing.

Somehow Thomas missed out on the visit from resurrected-Jesus. When his mates tell him the story, he refuses to accept it. He wants to check it all out for himself or else he won't believe it.

After a week when I'd imagine Thomas had forgotten about the whole thing, resurrected Jesus returns and he has Thomas particularly in mind. That encounter certainly changes Thomas into a believer.

Jesus teaches from this experience how blessed Thomas is for being able to have this encounter when many coming after him will have to believe without such a visitation. 

As the last story in John's Gospel (version 1 anyway; ch. 21 is later added to make ver. 2), the story is meant to speak to those being challenged to live the Kingdom life in the era when the gospel is written, likely at the end of the 1st century, about 4 generations after Jesus crucfixion and resurrection.

But was Thomas wrong? Or did he have a message to which we should pay attention? You decide when you watch the sermon video below.

04-19-20-ff-answers.pdf
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04-19-20-experience_is_believing.pdf
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CAN YOU SEE THE LORD?  - for Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020

4/11/2020

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He is risen! The tomb is empty. Where did he go? Enthroned among gleaming clouds of heaven awaiting your arrival at death? Umm ... no. 

Perception problems - seeing Jesus for who he is - plague the disciples throughout the gospels, all of them. In the end, after the crucifixion and at the resurrection, the problems persist.

The gospel of John combines archetypes of light vs. dark and seeing vs. blindness together. Mary comes to the tomb in the dark, sees the stone rolled away - that's all - and tells the others. Peter and "the beloved disciple" race to the tomb and are also befuddled ... and go home. 

Mary remains, finding herself among a pair of (unhelpful) angels, and then some guy shows up. She doesn't recognize him, but it's Jesus. Jesus tells her that he is going away, but where ... exactly?

Matthew 25 serves as a reminder, another instance when perception fails among the disciples. Recalling the times when he was in need, Jesus appreciates the disciples who ministered to him. But the disciples don't recall such occasions. Jesus tells them where he has gone.

Find out the whole story and get your bread and cup handy to share in the remembrance of the Lord's Supper with me in the video below.

04-12-20-ff-answers.pdf
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04-12-20-can_you_see_the_lord.pdf
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PASSION PROMISE: BETRAYAL AND BLESSING - for Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020

4/4/2020

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​The events of Passion Week are all about betrayal and blessing. We combine the Palm Sunday reading with a Maundy Thursday reading to see how people and events play out with results that raise some questions for us.

The Jerusalem crowds on Palm Sunday greet the one who came riding on a donkey, like the prophet Zechariah foretold. But they seek a political messiah to liberate then from Roman rule and corruption. They aren't interested in the blessing Jesus brings in seeking to advance the Kingdom of God in the Holy City. They will soon betray him for failing to to do what they seek.

Skipping ahead to the events of Maundy Thursday, we start with Judas arranging his own payoff. We learn why "Iscariot" may have betrayed Jesus.

Then we come to the last supper, a Passover Seder celebration of God's blessings for God's people in the Exodus from Egyptian slavery to God's liberation. Jesus tells his disciples gathered for the Seder that there is one among them who will betray him. They deny it and protest the accusation. But having to plead with Jesus shows that even they wonder, if not about themselves but another in their midst.

Jesus proceeds to take loaf and then cup, sharing them with the disciples. How does this action symbolically impact the goal of his betrayal? Watch the sermon video below and find out.

04-05-20-ff-answers.pdf
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04-05-20-passion_promise-betrayal_and_blessing.pdf
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