April 16, 2017
Lenten Devotions – Easter Sunday Year A

“After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” Matthew 28:1-10

On Easter we are given a great gift – and we are given a choice. The gift for us is the empty tomb. The empty tomb means that Christ defeated death and we have the opportunity to share in a resurrection like Jesus’. Christ has been raised and we will be able to share in this reality when everything comes to completion through Christ. That is the greatest gift any of us could receive. The choice we have is this: does the empty tomb change how we will live life right now? Will we dessert Jesus like the disciples did – hiding away in the Upper Room? Or, will we become bearers of this amazing story?

About halfway around our world, in many African nations including Kenya I believe, Christians were slaughtered because of their faith. When gunmen come to them and ask about their faith, they remove those of other faiths and they slaughter the Christians. In our society, it is more likely that we will be killed in an accident or from disease, rather than lose our lives because of our religion. Those in other countries have a reason not to profess their faith, and yet they do, even to the real possibility that they will lose their lives because of their beliefs. We have no fear of saying whether we are Christian, or not, and yet many are afraid to profess their faith in a private conversation let alone in some outward manner – in other words, their faith is as shut-in as Jesus was on Good Friday. And many of our churches are shutting people out because they are afraid of an uncertain future. They are becoming more and more dead because people are afraid – afraid to admit that their culture no longer recognizes them as viable – viable to their faith and viable to their community. People are also avoiding local churches either because their lives are too secular, and they believe that the church and its leaders are as incompetent as society likes to portray.

Well let me tell you this – our church is not an empty church. Our church is not about sealing ourselves in to prepare for our death – Trinity Lutheran Church Lemoyne is filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit – and the Holy Spirit is filling our lives so we can fill other people’s lives – with love, mercy, food, housing, scripture, personal products, and on and on and on it goes. This church is not empty – it is filled with people who are filled with joy and the Holy Spirit who is guiding us to be the church in amazing ways.
If you feel as if your life is empty, come and join us and be a part of sharing the story of an empty tomb – not only will it fill your life, it will fill the lives of so many others in our community.

Come and join us in living out the message – Christ is Risen; He is Risen Indeed – Alleluia.

Pastor Dave

April 15, 2017
Lenten Devotions – Titanic Sinks

When the Titanic sank early in the morning on this day, April 15, 1912, John Harper was among the 1,522 people who died. The band went down with the ship. The last hymn they played was “Autumn,” which concludes with the prayer
Hold me up in mighty waters
Keep my eyes on things above,
Righteousness, divine Atonement,
Peace, and everlasting Love.

At 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, the British ocean liner Titanic sinks into the North Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada. The massive ship, which carried 2,200 passengers and crew, had struck an iceberg two and half hours before. On April 10, the RMS Titanic, one of the largest and most luxurious ocean liners ever built, departed Southampton, England, on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. The Titanic was designed by the Irish shipbuilder William Pirrie and built in Belfast, and was thought to be the world’s fastest ship. It spanned 883 feet from stern to bow, and its hull was divided into 16 compartments that were presumed to be watertight. Because four of these compartments could be flooded without causing a critical loss of buoyancy, the Titanic was considered unsinkable. While leaving port, the ship came within a couple of feet of the steamer New York but passed safely by, causing a general sigh of relief from the passengers massed on the Titanic‘s decks. On its first journey across the highly competitive Atlantic ferry route, the ship carried some 2,200 passengers and crew.

After stopping at Cherbourg, France, and Queenstown, Ireland, to pick up some final passengers, the massive vessel set out at full speed for New York City. However, just before midnight on April 14, the RMS Titanic failed to divert its course from an iceberg and ruptured at least five of its hull compartments. These compartments filled with water and pulled down the bow of the ship. Because the Titanic‘s compartments were not capped at the top, water from the ruptured compartments filled each succeeding compartment, causing the bow to sink and the stern to be raised up to an almost vertical position above the water. Then the Titanic broke in half, and, at about 2:20 a.m. on April 15, stern and bow sank to the ocean floor.” (history.com website)

Hyperbole rules the day in our products and our politicians. We hear day after day “This is the greatest product EVER”, and “No one will cure the ills of our State, Country, or World like I WILL.” Hyperbolic statements – like “The UNSINKABLE SHIP” – seem to be words that must be taken with great suspicion in our day and age. We have been disappointed time and time again with the advertisers and the products and the people who claim to “have it all, know it all, do it all, and bring to us completeness”. There is only One for whom the words “Unsinkable” do apply – and that One is Jesus. They tried to sink him, kill him, destroy his teachings, and they failed miserably. The One who claims to love all people, and wants to redeem all people is the One who fulfills his claims. That is the One they killed on Good Friday – He is the One that is Raised on Easter Sunday – He is the “Unsinkable One” – Jesus Christ.

Please collect a tube of toothpaste for Trinity’s Table to bring on Easter Sunday morning.

Pastor Dave