The Great Fifty Days of Easter - Day 8 and the Second Sunday of Easter - April 8th

Second Sunday of Easter

and

Day 8 of the Great Fifty Days of Easter

Opening Prayer:  O God of our salvation, who gave the Apostle Paul inspired words to preach, help your brothers and sisters in Christ stand firm so that the gospel message that we have received from you may not be heard in vain; through your Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Opening Song of Praise:  Jesus Messiah

A Prayer for Peace from St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Today's Message:  Preach

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.

1 Corinthians 15:11 (NIV)

Yesterday our key word was "grace."  Grace was a foreign idea to the Greeks.  The Greeks were great orators and believed that the spoken word was what influenced people.  Remember that Paul started Chapter 15 with this same proclamation -- a reminder that he preached the gospel to the Corinthians and that they received it and they stand on its teachings.  So it should be no surprise that the Corinthians valued receiving the teachings of the gospels through preaching because of their valuing orators and the spoken word.

Today during our worship services, we will continue to hear the events that unfolded after the women told the disciples that they had seen Jesus.  We will hear that Jesus appeared to the disciples, and that Thomas was not with them when he first appeared and says he will not believe until he sees and feels the nail marks in Jesus' hands and feet.  And then Thomas sees Jesus and touches his hands and feet, proving to him that he truly was the risen Lord.  We will hear these words from John 20:29 -- Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”  Jesus was setting the scene for the disciples who would be commanded to go out and spread the Good News, for they would encounter people who had not personally known Jesus.  How, then, would they share with these people?  This is exactly how Paul is relating to the people of Corinth.  He is sharing the gospel and the scriptures through preaching.  He is sharing the story with those who have not seen in hopes that they will come to believe.

Response to the Word:  Let us profess what we believe...

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Closing Song of Praise:  "We Believe" by the Newsboys 

Benediction:  Think about what we have read this week -- 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 and the lectionary reading for today, the Second Sunday of Easter, especially the verses from John 20.  Think about the impact that it has on us.  We are so much like the Corinthians, because we, too, have not actually seen the risen Lord.  We believe because Christ lives in us.  And because he lives in us, we "believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting."  Amen.