Apr 04

How Do We Begin the Season of Joy?

So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Matthew 28:8  

The Season of Easter is a season of joy, celebration, and happiness at the news of the empty tomb and the resurrected Savior.  That is the way it should be!  Yet, the way we experience life rarely is it completely this way.  As we see the response to the Resurrection in the Bible, it is often mixed with other, and sometimes conflicting emotions.  Such as the passage above: fear and great joy. 

     
Joy is a mark of God’s Spirit dwelling in our hearts.  Also, we see fear there too.  Christ’s victory over the grave and death does not mean that now our lives are worry free.  Jesus is very clear to his disciples, “in this world you shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  Life, even following the Resurrected Son of God, is one of struggle, conflict, painful times, rejection, and confusion.

 As we struggle with ourselves, we must admit that our desires to do better often go awry.  We are frustrated with how incomplete our love can be expressed.  When we stand for the just cause, we are rejected even by those we are trying to help.  The presence of these things does not exclude joy in our experience of follow the Resurrected one.
       
Then our confession is that the season of joy begins sometimes with fear, confusion, struggle, and pain.  We do not deny the reality of life, but we grasp a greater reality that puts it all in order.  The reality of the empty tomb and meeting the living Son of God. 

Pastor Greg

Mar 28

The Greatest Easter Sermon Ever Preached!

In the Fourth Century, the Archbishop of Constantinople John Chrysostom (349-407) preached the most famous Easter sermon, or Pascal sermon in church history.  This sermon has lasted these 16 centuries and is read in most Orthodox Church on Easter morning.  It is not a long sermon, taking about 5 minutes to read out loud, but it contains such joy, and such victorious imagery that Christians return to it repeatedly.

     Are there any who are devout lovers of God?
     Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!
     Are there any who are grateful servants?
     Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of  their Lord!
    

As we read this sermon, he takes away all excuses for us not to be exuberant on the Morning of the Resurrection.  He leaves no one out of the reasons not to join in the “Hallelujahs” filling our churches this morning.  Death and Hell have been annihilated!  Satan and the forces of evil been vanquished!  And we know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord!

As we assemble for this Resurrection Sunday, do not allow anything to diminish this joy that is the gift to all of God’s people!

     Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!

Happy Easter!
Pastor Greg

Mar 21

The Joy of The Cross

We never associate Christ’s death on the cross with joy.  Yes, it is the innocent being betrayed, abandoned, brutalized, and forsaken.  Yet Jesus affirmed constantly that he is doing the will of God in Heaven.  “Not my will, but thine be done,” is the quote from the prayer in the garden before Jesus is betrayed.  Hebrews 10 makes a point of that be the prophetic word from Christ, “I have come to do you will, O God.”

Hebrews 12 gives us this association of the Cross and joy.  Hebrews 12:2, “looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”  The way we approach Lent, and now Passion Week, often forgets and even disdains joy.  In contrast, the author of Hebrews gives the joy that was to come as the reason Jesus endured the Cross and all that it entailed.

I challenged you recently to include in your spiritual disciple of Lent to name at least one thing each day that brings you joy.  If we do not look for joy in our spiritual discipline, even that which is marked with repentance and self-denial, then we are not using Christ as our example.  “For the joy that was set before him” should cause us to anticipate and even find the joy that we are offered in following Jesus as a disciple.  Even when the requirement includes taking up our cross to follow him.

Pastor Greg

PS:  I am looking forward to Maundy Thursday at 7:00 p.m.  I have a sermon in the first person on the life of Judas.  I have presented this on a couple of occasions and have received positive remarks about this approach to the character that betrayed Jesus Christ.

Mar 14

In The Kingdom, Seeing is Doing

What to Expect in the End  
     The end of the world has been a fascination among Christians for most of the history of the Church.  Passages like our text this Sunday (Mark 13) are among those that excite the speculation of many readers.  Of course, the sun being darkened and the moon not giving its light; wars and rumors of wars; earthquakes in various places; are titillating descriptions for the imagination.      

What has been one of the considerations of the end that Jesus has emphasized in Mark?  I think the idea that there is coming a tomorrow that will not be like today is Jesus’ exhortation.  As in the man who was told, “tonight your soul will be required of you.”  Tomorrow may not be like today, and what are you going to do about it?      

In 1 Peter 4:7-8 we read “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.  Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”  We are preparing for the “end of all things” by patience, self-control, praying, loving and forgiving.  This is where we get out of balance.  I think all Christian doctrine or prophecy is to remind us to do these things.     

 I do see the Bible teaching that there will be a tomorrow that is not like today.  That tells me that I must do today the things like Peter mentions so I can prepare for it.  Keep loving, keep praying, keep forgiving until the stars begin to fall.

Pastor Greg

Watch for closings and delay messages
during the winter months on TV Channels 3, 5 and 8.

Twinsburg First Congregational Church