Sunday’s Coming, April 5

Dear HBIC Family,

I often share about the impact of memorizing scripture growing up. I was introduced to this way of learning the Bible through Sunday School. Usually, it was tied to some incentive – getting to go to summer camp or a winter retreat. Sometimes it might have even been tied to other special gifts or events. As kids growing up in church, we really thought we were winning because we were getting all these tremendous prizes just for learning verses.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to see that the real win wasn’t in the special trips or prizes. It sounds silly to even write it out, but the big win was learning the Scriptures. In doing this, I was invited to not only learn the word, but to learn about God, the heart of God, and God’s work in the world. Even now, decades later, these verses are some of my first thoughts just navigating life on a day-to-day basis.

This Sunday, as we gather to worship, we will come together to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This Holy Week I have found myself grounded in 1 Corinthians 15, one of the chapters I memorized all those years ago. There Paul reminds us that it is by the gospel, the complete story of Jesus, that we have been saved. Paul shares that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day – all according to the Scriptures. According to Paul, the resurrected Jesus appeared to Peter and the other disciples and apostles, to more than five hundred other sisters and brothers, and even to him (Paul).

Paul writes here that the resurrection matters. It matters because it teaches us that the dead will rise. It matters because it confirms our hope and faith, and our witness and testimony. It matters because it loudly proclaims that death has lost its sting and has been swallowed up in victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Even when darkness appears to cover, light breaks through. Ever when brokenness seems to overwhelm, resurrection life brings healing and unburdening closer, it makes it available, and thus even more real.

As you prepare for our time in worship together this Sunday, I would like to invite you to read and meditate on Mark 16:1-8. As you reflect, I would like you to focus on the following questions:

How are you preparing to meet Jesus this week?

What is standing in your way, between you and God this week?

What stone or stones do you need God to roll away for you to see the light of Christ?

What does God need to resurrect in you, to bring you to new life in this season?

How is the Spirit speaking to you this week? What is the Spirit calling you to share with others?

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome woke up early and headed to the tomb. They were committed followers of Jesus who sought to do a final grace. They had planned to do their loving duty, to care for Jesus’ dead body, to handle and embalm Jesus. They were being faithful, so much so, they forget the detail about rolling away the stone. Yet, amid their wandering and wondering out loud, when they looked up they saw that the stone had been rolled away. Inside, their alarm was met by a young man dressed in white who reminded them that Jesus who they sought, Jesus who had been crucified, Jesus their Lord and Savior…was no longer here in the grave.

We serve a risen Savior. We worship a good God. We are empowered by and to resurrection life by a gracious Holy Spirit. Amid all the dark, we know there is light already shining. In all our frailty and brokenness, we know restoration and healing is near. And in all our wanderings and wondering, we just must look up.

Look up and see that our God still rolls away stones, still calms our hearts and spirits, and still goes ahead of us to welcome us to the way, the truth, and the life. Look up and see, Christ is risen. Look up and know, Christ is risen indeed!

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you all.

Love in Christ,

Pastor Hank (Mark 16:6)