RESURRECTION RAYS SHINING ON DAYS OF DENIAL

John 21:1-19

May 3, 2010  4th Sunday of Easter

¹Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: ²Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ³“I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

⁴Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

⁵He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.

⁶He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

⁷Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”

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RESURRECTION RAYS SHINING ON DAYS OF DOUBT

John 20:24-31

April 19, 2020

Then Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

INTRODUCTION

Well, Easter is over and done with for another year.  I appreciate your tremendous efforts to make it a good day in spite of the coronavirus restrictions we are living with.  Many of you tuned into our FB Live service.  You kept alive great culinary traditions albeit on a smaller scale, such as ham, scalloped potatoes, deviled eggs and homemade rolls.  You held backyard Easter Egg hunts for the kids.

I did hear of one instance where one family’s bowl of jellybeans got a bit tainted when the youngest child doused it with hand sanitizer!  That’s ok.  She thought she was doing a good thing!

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FEELING LENT – ABANDONED ON SKULL HILL

Matthew 27:45-50

April 5, 2020  Palm/Passion Sunday

Over these Sundays of Lent we are feeling Lent!  We are exploring in this series of messages the waves of emotion that wash over Jesus during his final days in Jerusalem, while also encountering how these emotions speak to us in our life’s journey.

On previous Sundays, we have witnessed Jesus experiencing exhilaration on Mt. Olive Road as he enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  We have seen him filled with rage as he cleanses the temple of supposedly holy persons committing unholy exploitation of disadvantaged folk.  We ran into confusion in the Upper Room as Jesus takes on the role of a slave, washing his disciples’ nasty feet.

There was defiance on full display as Jesus exhibits courage in the face of hatred before the religious leaders and Pontius Pilate, followed by the humiliation inflicted upon Jesus’ body and soul by soldiers in the Praetorium.

Now we come to the pinnacle of pain endured by our Lord: abandonment on Skull Hill, better known as Golgotha…better known as that hill far away –  Calvary.

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FEELING LENT…DEFIANCE IN HALLS OF POWER

Matthew 26:57-67. 27:11-26

March 22, 2020  Fourth Sunday in Lent

INTRODUCTION

Over these Sundays of Lent we are feeling Lent!  We are exploring in this series of messages the waves of emotion that wash over Jesus during his final days in Jerusalem, while also encountering how these emotions speak to us in our journey as Christian folk.

On previous Sundays, we have witnessed Jesus experiencing exhilaration on Mt. Olive Road as he enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  We have seen him filled with rage as he cleanses the temple of supposedly holy persons committing unholy exploitation of disadvantaged folk.  Last Sunday we ran into confusion in the Upper Room as Jesus takes on the role of a slave, washing his disciples’ nasty feet.

This morning there is yet another emotion to be felt – defiance.

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FEELING LENT…RAGE IN TEMPLE COURTYARD

John 2:13-22

March 8, 2020

Over these Sundays of Lent we are feeling Lent!  We are exploring the waves of emotion that wash over Jesus during his final days in Jerusalem, while also encountering how these emotions speak to us in our journey as Christian folk.

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