Easter is a Choice

Easter is a choice Acts 5:27-32 Second Sunday of Easter Year C It is Easter all over again today. If you used all of your energy to prepare for last Sunday, what did you do this Sunday? This is usually known as the lowest Sunday of the year, a Sunday that people are just trying to get through. But I am here to tell you that it is Easter all over again today. As a matter of fact the next 5 Sundays are easter Sundays. But Sunday is considered Sunday. Do we have the energy to make every Sunday easter? Well the good news is that the power of easter is not dependent on us. It is the holy spirit that makes every Sunday easter. It is the power of the holy spirit that raised jesus from the dead. it is the power of the holy spirit that ensures that it is a new day now – it is easter Sunday. The Easter Choice When faced with new realities, you have at least three options for how to respond (and it is nearly certain that you will opt for one of these three possibilities). First, you can stay bewildered. You can let this event knock you flat on your back and then stay there. Second, you can engage in world-class denial. You can look at the facts and ignore them. Or third, you can, slowly perhaps, assimilate this new information. You may get knocked as flat on your back as the next person by this new realization, but eventually you pick yourself up. You embrace this new truth and then go through the long, sometimes painful, process of re-assessing life in the light of this new evidence. This is the Easter choice. When faced with the incredible proclamation that Jesus rose again from the dead, you can be agnostic and cynical by saying that you don't know what to make of this but then neither are you going to try. Who cares anyway? Or you can deny it. The whole thing is fiction, fantasy, a pious wish but something that never really happened. Or you can move past the shock toward acceptance. But let me caution you: if you are going to accept the truth of the bodily resurrection, you need to let it change you totally. That's the Easter choice. The problem for most of us is that we are not surprised enough by Easter to realize we face a choice. Easter is a part of the background scenery of our lives. We've never been afraid of Easter, never been bewildered by it. Believing that Jesus rose again from the dead becomes a little like believing the earth is round and that it orbits the sun. Once upon a time people didn't know that. They thought the earth was flat and that the sun orbited the earth. It caused quite a stir when this view had to be revised. But that was a long time ago and now we accept that picture of our solar system without much thought. Sure the world is round and we orbit the sun, but what does that have to do with anything? It doesn't change what I have to do at work tomorrow, does it? Is that what Easter becomes for us? We believe it happened but then, we've always believed that. Even Easter has somehow become part of the “routines” of this world. So why would it have much of an effect on what we do tomorrow? Easter is no longer shocking for us--it surely does not make us re-evaluate everything else we think we know. And anyway, we're not sure we want to have everything in our lives changed. Of course, if we can believe in the resurrection at all, it is a gift of faith granted to us by the prior gift of grace. But if we have received that grace and accept the truth that gets proclaimed from every Christian pulpit in the world each Easter Sunday morning, then we have to know that this truth changes everything. This is not some fact we can ponder just once every twelve months. This changes everything.... and on EVERY day. Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations Usually, the message on this Sunday is about how to deal with doubt, negativity and pain. Usually on this day we hear the story of doubting Thomas- and how doubt is a part of our faith. But that is not the message that God gave me today. He gave me acts 5 to focus on today. I love the book of acts, which is why I love the easter season. Because it tells the story of how the church grew – and as the disciples realized that they must be witnesses and tell what happened – people listened to them. The church grew b leaps and bounds, because there were other witnesses to the power of resurrection. In acts chapter 5 - the apostles are bought before the jewish authorities, not the roman authorities. And told not to talk anymore. Not to tell people about jesus. They continue to preach and they are put in jail. Scripture says that angels came in the middle of the night and released them. We don’t know if the angels mentioned are spiritual or human. The scripture gives us no clue. But the point of the story is that when they get out of jail, they continue to tell the story. The message of acts 5 – the apostles say that they have to listen to God and not to man. They have to do what god says and not what makes man comfortable. Have you ever noticed that whenever there is a message that will bring freedom to the people, whenever there is a message that will make life easier, that the authorities don’t want silence. They want nothing said about that situation. That is why it is so important to have witnesses, who know the story and are willing to tell the story. The world values manipulation, domination and retaliation. God values love, grace and peace. If we are witnesses to the resurrection, then we must do the will of God and not the will of man. We have to do what God says and not what man says. The cool thing about the book of acts, is that when the apostles followed the will of God, then the world started listening to them. As I was preparing for this Sunday – God told me to be simple in my message – Easter is a choice. Easter is a choice for all of us. Have you noticed that the world is changing. Even within the last few months there are many things that are going on that will change the world. There are changes in the church, changes in our laws, changes in our situation. Even from last week, it is Easter all over again. Everything is transforming right before our eyes. But when we choose to live inside of the power of the living Christ. We are given the power to change, to transform. God is at work in the lives of those who choose to serve him. The text from the book of Revelation is not very long, but it makes it clear who God is and Who Jesus is. Jesus is a faithful witness to the promises of God in our lives. Jesus was willing to be faithful even to death and resurrection. It is Easter all over again today. It is Easter in our doubts and in our faith. It is Easter in our weakness and our strength. When we choose Easter – acts says we have the power to be brave, Revelations says we have to the power to witness to a miracle, and John says we have the power to bring peace. Choose Easter – and you choose the power of God in your life. We Know Where We Are Going The story is told about Albert Einstein, the brilliant physicist of Princeton University in the early 20th century. Einstein was traveling from Princeton on a train, and when the conductor came down the aisle to punch the passengers’ tickets, Einstein couldn’t find his. He looked in his vest pocket, he looked in his pants pocket, he looked in his briefcase, but there was no ticket. The conductor was gracious; “Not to worry, Dr. Einstein, I know who you are, we all know who you are, and I’m sure you bought a ticket.” As the conductor moved down the aisle, he looked back and noticed Einstein on his hands and knees, searching under the seat for his ticket. The conductor returned to Einstein; “Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry. I know who you are. You don’t need a ticket, I’m sure you bought one.” Einstein arose and said “Young man, I too know who I am; what I don’t know is where I am going.” And that is the good news of Easter; that we know where we are going. We have been told by the Savior that his life and death has promised us life eternal. And Low Sundays don’t change that promise. And unemployment doesn’t change that promise. Neither does divorce, or bankruptcy, or cancer, or depression, or felony, or failure. Through elation and deflation and every emotion in between, this truth remains; we know whose we are and we know where we are going, because the Son of God has promised. And this, my friends, is faith. Steven Molin, Elated....Deflated God's Back It was Saturday, the day before Easter, and Joanne Hinch of Woodland Hills, California was sitting at the kitchen table coloring eggs with her three-year-old son Dan and her two-year-old daughter Debbie. She told her kids about the meaning of Easter and taught them the traditional Easter morning greeting and response, "He is risen...He is risen indeed!" The children planned to surprise their Dad, a Presbyterian minister, with that greeting as soon as he awoke the next morning. Easter arrived, little Dan heard his father stirring about in his bedroom, so the boy got up quickly, dashed down the hall and shouted the good news: "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, God's back!" David E. Leininger, "Laugh, Thomas, Laugh!" I have a habit that may seem strange to some: I tape football games and watch them again—and again and again, if the game turns out right. Super Bowl 32 is one of my favorites, the one where the Broncos defeated Green Bay 31-24. (I’m a Bronco fan.) The first time I saw the game there were some tense moments: every turnover was nerve-wracking, every mistake was a potential disaster. Now the setbacks don’t bother me; I know how it ends. With every play I savor the victory that I know is coming. It may seem crazy, but there’s a sense in which a well-played game is a form of art. Have you ever watched a movie that you’ve already seen? Maybe the first time it was suspenseful, but not so the second time because you know how the story ends-—you know the good guy doesn’t fall off the cliff and the bad guy eventually gets caught. But you still enjoy the movie. In fact, since you’re not all tied up in the plot, you begin to appreciate other aspects of the film: clever dialogue, outstanding camera work, the use of a special effect, and so on. Since you know the ending you can enjoy the movie on a whole different level. That’s how we can enjoy life--as if we we are viewing it for the second time. We don’t have to sweat the outcome because we know God’s ultimate outcome. We need not wonder if he will take care of us, or if he will make cause all things to work together for his good. We know the outcome. And we know that since Jesus conquered death, we can, through him, conquer life. And in the process, we can enjoy the journey. Everyday is part of the celebration--even the tough days. That’s God’s promise. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. (Romans 8:11) SOURCE: Steve May in "The One Minute Newsletter" from www.sermonnotes.com. One Sunday morning a pastor was dressing for church and had the radio on listening to a local church service. Suddenly he heard to minister say, "It’s Easter, and it doesn’t make any difference if Christ be risen or not..." Shocked, A.H.Ackley shouted," It’s a lie! He is risen!" His wife said," Why don’t you write a song about it?" Reading the gospels again" He is risen" and feeling God’s presence, he began writing. "I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today, I know that He is living, whatever men may say..."