As a young adult community, we want to stay aware of the particular gifts that young adults bring to our world as well as the particular challenges that young adults face. We are also curious to learn about culture and trends among young adults.
Yes, a wonderful reminder to be sure! I'm grateful that Easter is not only one special day. It's also a liturgical season! That means that this Easter Season can truly be a transforming time for us, not just one wonderful day.
Luke 24:1-12As I think about what had happened before our story begins, the truth is, I can hardly fathom the deep devastation that the disciples were feeling. I can hardly imagine their sense of loss. All of them - the eleven who had been twelve before Judas’ betrayal and recent suicide, droves of other disciples, the women who traveled with him - all of them had followed Jesus for three years of their lives. They left their work, their homes, some of them left their families, and it looked as though it had all been for nothing.
I can hardly imagine how their hopes must have seemed truly dashed. They had lived in awe, knowing that life was changing as they followed this Jesus. He was ushering in the
And I can hardly imagine the fear they must have had. The last 48 hours were terrifying as they watched Jesus’ arrest and death, and surely they knew that they could be next. The gospels give us a picture of the disciples together after Jesus' death, waiting and watching. The Gospel of John tells us that they hid behind locked doors. Of course, it made sense to do such a thing: They didn't know what would be next for them. They must have been living in complete terror. I can hardly wrap my mind around that kind of fear.
And so you can imagine how brave and dedicated those women were when they ventured out to Jesus’ tomb very early on Sunday morning. . . They addressed their loss, faced their crushed hopes, and boldly conquered their personal fears as they brought spices to anoint and care for Jesus’ broken and disfigured body.
But as they arrived, they had a new challenge before them.They had to face a new reality that was beyond their imagination. When they arrived at the tomb, the stone was rolled away. They didn’t expect this. Who could be inside? Is everything okay? I wonder if they immediately felt panic within themselves. Perhaps their fearful imaginations anticipated the scene before reality confirmed it. Perhaps they immediately panicked and pictured that tomb empty without Jesus’ body.They had woken early to anoint Jesus’ body, but had somebody already been there? Could the authorities have stolen him away from them? They went inside the tomb, and the picture certainly would have confirmed their suspicions if they were thinking them. Jesus wasn’t inside the tomb. The tomb was empty. Abandoned.
But then, a new, stunning revelation. As the women are standing there perplexed, they realize that two men are standing there in front of them. And they have a pointed question for the women. And though it was a pointed question, I imagine that it was spoken with gentleness. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the two men asked this simple and yet pointed question: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Why do you look for the living among the dead? Why are you looking for Jesus in a tomb of all places? Your sense of loss is great, it may feel as though your hopes are crushed, and you may be living in fear, but this One you seek isn’t among the dead at all! He’s among the living!
The men remind the women about Jesus’ words to them, and in excitement, they rush back to tell the other disciples.. Can you imagine their joy? Can you imagine the hope that came flooding back into them? And yet the disciples are still living in their loss, dashed hopes, and fear. They can’t imagine it either, and can we really blame them? The scripture tells us that they believed these words to be an idle tale. Perhaps it was too difficult to even try to hope. Maybe it didn’t feel worth it, if they might be disappointed again.
But Peter won’t sit idly by. He won’t simply brush the story away like an idle tale. He needs to allow himself to hope. He needs to see for himself. He leaves those fearful disciples and travels to the tomb. And he doesn’t walk hesitantly. He doesn’t keep looking over his shoulder, fearing the authorities. That wasn’t Peter’s means of traveling to the tomb. Peter ran! Peter ran with passion! He got to the tomb, stooped in, and saw what his eyes could hardly take in. Jesus was not in that tomb – only the linen cloths were there. The scripture says that Peter went home amazed at what had happened.
He went home amazed at what had happened.
And so here we are. We are here on Easter Sunday. And here we are hearing the story again. Where are we? Where are we – not just, where is our location? But where are we in our hearts and minds? It’s true that it may be hard to imagine what the disciples were feeling, but maybe we know loss, and disappointed hopes, and fear. We haven’t experienced what these disciples experienced directly more than 2000 years ago, but here we are, and we’re disciples too. We’re hearing the story of resurrection. We’re hearing that question: Why do look for the living among the dead? We’re hearing the testimony of those women. Where are we?
David Johnson, one of my professors from Austin Seminary, had an interesting Facebook status last Easter, and it resonated with me: He said this, “
GOOD FRIDAY
DEVOTIONAL CONCERT
FRIDAY, APRIL 22
7:30 PM
Fauré: Requiem Mass
Poulenc: Quatre motets pour un temps de penitence
Pre-Concert Lecture:
Pasadena Star News music critic Robert D. Thomas
7:00 PM
The Kirk Choir and Community Singers
The Pasadena Singers
Judith Siirila, soprano • Michal Dawson Connor, bass
The Friends of Music Orchestra
Timothy Howard, conductor
FREE ADMISSION (Voluntary offering)
PPC’s 14th annual Good Friday concert on April 22 will have a distinctly French flair, highlighted by one of the must beautiful settings of the Requiem Mass by Gabriel Fauré and Francis Poulenc’s haunting “Quatre motets pour un temps de penitence (Four Lenten Motets).” The works will be sung in Latin with translations in multiple languages projected on the wall above the choir.
As a young adult community, we want to stay aware of the particular gifts that young adults bring to our world as well as the particular challenges that young adults face. We are also curious to learn about culture and trends among young adults.
We are mindful of Japan today and all the people who live there. After the destruction of an 8.9 earthquake, a tsunami, and numerous aftershocks, there was another very large aftershock today in northern Japan that was measured at a magnitude of 7.1. Tsunami warnings were issued but then canceled.
At Pasadena Presbyterian Church, we aim to be a "sacred space for the city," and for that reason, we desire to learn about opportunities for service in Pasadena and to support and celebrate what non-profits, ministries, and charities are doing right in our midst.
As a young adult community, we want to stay aware of the particular gifts that young adults bring to our world as well as the particular challenges that young adults face. We are also curious to learn about culture and trends among young adults.
These days, we are prayerful for so many people and nations around our world - for Japan in the ongoing struggle for safety and well-being, for the Middle East in the protests and revolutions happening there, and for Africa, where citizens in Libya and the Ivory Coast are caught in violence and civil war.
Loving God,
