RoboPreacher

then you can begin / to come up slow like a desert rose A sermon on the real ending of Easter : Alleluia! Christ is risen! * Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!  Yes, indeed , Christ is risen. Alleluia! Do you remember the first time you ever said this greeting? Or at least the first time you were conscious of doing so? For me , I don’t think it was until I was in college . So, for all I know, today is your first memory of making this venerable Easter salutation. No matter what, though, we all have some Easter memory. Don’t we? So, let’s take a moment to recall one. And start thinking, too, because I’m going to ask us to share . This is something we do from time to time. I like it because it gets you all engaged . So, like I said, start thinking about your answer. What’s an Easter memory you have? And keep it simple ; just go with whatever comes to mind.   To give you some time to think, I’ll go first. And while I talk, think about your answer. I know you think about o...

to recreate us The holy gospel according to St. Mark the 16th chapter ! The Gospel that began with a trumpet blast , “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;” ends in a whisper . “And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid .” …This is the infamous conclusion to Mark’s Gospel. Closing out the ‘good news of Jesus Christ,’ not with a glorious resurrection appearance that dispels all fear and doubt forever; but with an entirely absent messiah and three women running away, afraid with buttoned lips… This is not how you want the Gospel to end. So unsatisfactory is this conclusion that some scribes felt the need to add an ending onto this one years later!   And, most of our Bibles include their appendage, too!   Go ahead, check it out! Bust out your Bible! Mark 16, verse 8. If they’re anything like mine, the only clue you would have that there’s been some meddling , is a couple of headings and a lengthy ...

you look for Jesus who is not here The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark ! Even on the most ordinary of occasions it’s a bit of an unsettling story, isn’t it? What, with the empty tomb, the young man announcing that Jesus isn’t there, he’s been raised, he’s ahead of them, in Galilee; just as he said . Yes, in it’s own way, it’s kind of a disquieting story…  As today is Easter Sunday, though ; what’s really unsettling about this story is how it ends . After hearing that Jesus is risen, the women don’t exclaim, ‘he is risen indeed, alleluia;’ rather they run off afraid , and they don’t say a a single, rotten word. Yes, it’s an unsettling story; especially today.  Maybe, though, it is a fitting Easter story. After all, it isn’t always easy to say “alleluia,’ is it?  That’s how it was for those women that first Easter.  After a night of undoubtedly restless sleep, they wake up at the crack of dawn, get everything together and go to THE t...