Monthly Archives: April 2011

April 27, 2011 · 9:24 am

The Great Fifty Days

Like Christmastide, Easter isn’t just one day on the calendar.  Easter is a season.  The season of Eastertide is also known on the church calendar as “The Great Fifty Days.”  I love that name for this season because it captures for me what the fifty days from Easter to Pentecost should be about.

Every Sunday on the church calendar is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and should be celebrated as such.  The Great Fifty Days give us an opportunity to continue the celebration of Christ’s transforming resurrection and the days Christ spent on earth before he ascended to heaven.  During these fifty days Jesus met with his disciples as well as many faithful Christians.  He used these fifty days to show them the meaning and power of the resurrection.  During these fifty days the doubt, fear, and failure of the eleven remaining Disciples was transformed into the message of Christ as victor of sin and death.

At the end of these Great Fifty Days the Apostle Peter, the man who had denied Christ three times in fear, stood before a crowd of thousands on Pentecost and proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He proclaimed Christ with a new found enthusiasm and the power of the Holy Spirit!   The Holy Spirit transformed this weather beaten fisherman into a powerful evangelist and church leader.

As we celebrate the Great Fifty Days let us continue to proclaim the Easter message that Jesus Christ is risen!  Let us continue to share the gospel of the love and grace of Jesus Christ without putting aside our usual timidity.  The days of the victor of Christ have not ended with Holy Week.  Or even in these fifty days.  The message of the joy of Christ’s over coming love is the message of the church for each and every day.

Hallelujah!  Jesus Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!

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Filed under Easter

April 24, 2011 · 6:19 am

Jesus Christ is Risen!

This morning we have the joy of celebrating the truth and power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

Christ has Died.  Christ has Risen.  And Christ will come again.  Hallelujah!

Go and share the gospel of the transforming love of Jesus Christ!

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Filed under Easter, Transformation

April 22, 2011 · 10:01 pm

Into the Darkness

Today the Church has been observing Good Friday.  It was a dark, wet, and dreary day in Cedar Falls, a day that befits the solemnity of our observance.  

At noon Cedar Falls had its first of what we hope will be an annual Procesion of the Cross using the stations of the cross as a model. The Procession was very well attended despite the weather.  I am sure over 100 of us braved the weather to walk with the cross, read scripture, and pray.  I am glad that more than ten churches gathered together to be reminded of the sacrifice of Christ and our oneness as part of his body!

This evening our Associate Pastor for Youth and College, Steve Braudt and our youth group led a Tenebrae Service.  It was a powerful service of dramatic scripture readings, extinguishing the lights, and stripping the sanctuary of its faith symbols.  We all left in silence and awe and the acts of Christ on the cross and the death which he suffered.

This time from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday is called by the Church the Holy Triduum.  It is a space and time during Holy Week that is a unit of worship experiences and contemplation.  From the Upper Room, to the Cross, and into the darkness we wait.  We await the coming of our Savior.  We await answers to the evils of hell, sin, and death.  We await empty needing to be filled.  We await knowing that Christ has died for us and hoping against hope that the darkness in our lives will not continue without relief.

Tonight and tomorrow the Church of Jesus Christ mourns so that on Sunday, as the sun rises in the east, we can shout and sing.  We can run to the tomb with Peter and John.  We can say with Mary “I’ve seen Jesus” and we can walk the Road to Emmaus with a pair of Jesus’ followers.

Every year we retell and relive the old old story of Jesus and his love!  Every year we come again to face the darkness knowing that Jesus faced it for us and that he was there before us.  Unlike the Disciples we walk into the darkness knowing that Christ’s light is coming!  That Jesus will rise again!  That the tomb will be found empty!  That the angels will sing!  That the graves will be opened!  And finally that our hearts will be healed, redeemed, changed, transformed by the overcoming grace of Jesus Christ.

We walk into the darkness awaiting the coming of the one who has enough love for the whole world.

As the thief on the cross said to Jesus those many years ago.  ”Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom!”  Jesus remember me!

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Filed under Easter, Good Friday, Grace, Sacraments, Transformation, Walk to Emmaus

April 15, 2011 · 10:40 pm

Holy Week Journey with Jesus

Sunday is Palm/Passion Sunday.  On Sunday we begin a journey with Jesus through his last days before his crucifixion, death, and resurrection.

Palm Sunday has always been a time for the triumphal entry of Christ.  We have the children carry palm branches down the aisle and we sing loud hosannas.  But in recent years the Church has also reemphasized the passion, that is death of Christ on the cross.  It is too easy to jump from the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday to the triumph of the resurrection and never talk about the scandal of the cross.  It is too easy to forget to talk about the suffering servant when we are singing songs of joy and triumph.  So this Sunday we will talk about Christ’s death and what that means for our faith.

On Maundy Thursday many churches around the world will celebrate the institution of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion.  First UMC in Cedar Falls will have a reenactment of the last supper with the disciples and we will also share in the sacrament together.  In the days between Palm/Passion Sunday and Maundy Thursday Jesus has been meeting the challenge of the religious and political leaders of his day.  He has continued to talk about his radical gospel of love and the grace he offers.  When he comes to Thursday it is time to again try to get the twelve to understand that he intends to give his life for them.

On Good Friday we will celebrate Christ’s sacrifice.  Ten churches here in Cedar Falls, including First UMC, St. Timothy’s UMC, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, and seven other congregations will participate in a procession of the cross from Overman Park through downtown Cedar Falls to the foot of the steps at St. Patrick’s Church.  We will read portions of the stations of the cross and remember Christ’s love and sacrifice for us and for the whole world.

There are many theories about the atonement of Christ, that saving act which happens for us on the cross.  Different Christians describe Christ’s work on the cross with different metaphors from scripture.  But what we all agree on is that Jesus Christ died to give us knew life and to offer us the saving gospel.  It is hard to imagine such a sacrifice, it is hard to comprehend what Christ gave up for us, it is hard to imagine such a cruel death.  But what we can know and do know is that the scriptures tell us that we can love God because he first loved us.  When are given God’s grace so that we can respond to him.  We are given God’s grace when we respond to him.  And we experience God’s grace each and every day as he sanctifies us and leads us to grow in grace each day.

If we really look at the cross and really look seriously at the one who would call us to be servants to all for the sake of the gospel then when we reach Easter Sunday and the tomb is found empty we can with even greater joy should and sing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today!” with joy, with amazement, with wonder that the one who is our savior became the greatest by being the servant all.

Lord Christ let us travel with you this week in your way and on your path that we might see the glory of your resurrection this week with new eyes, with new hearts, and with greater joy!

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Filed under Easter, Good Friday, Grace, Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Transformation, Worship

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April 3, 2011 · 2:38 pm

Remember Your Baptism And Be Thankful

Anytime the church has the opportunity to sharing in the sacrament of Holy Baptism with a child in the church it is an opportunity for thanksgiving!  Today I had the privilege of baptizing a beautiful little girl into the church as her parents shared in her baptismal vows and friends and relatives looked on.  I got to introduce her to her new church family and give thanks for the grace of God that is poured out on her in baptism.

For me it also was special for another reason.  This was my first opportunity to perform a baptism since receiving my first appointment in the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church.  If you’ve read my blog you would know that I had previously served as a pastor in the American Baptist denomination where immersion baptism of professing members is the normal practice.

So you might wonder how it felt to baptize an infant for the first time.  Well, it was a wonderful experience!  It was a wonderful experience because infant baptism is such a powerful picture of God’s love and prevenient grace.  In a Wesleyan understanding of baptism the sacrament is a gift from God and not an act of the candidate for baptism.  God loves all of us, and like a helpless infant, we are unable to understand God’s love fully or at times to even respond to it.  But God loves us simply because we are his children.

In truth when we act like we can fully explain, comprehend, or describe God’s love we’ve forgotten that the salvation we have in Jesus Christ is from God who is beyond our full understanding.  The purpose of baptism isn’t to understand or comprehend God’s love.  The purpose of baptism is to receive God’s love and, when we are able, to accept it.

It was also a wonderful experience because there is nothing quite like welcoming children into God’s house and sharing the joy that new parents have at the birth of a new and precious life.  Jesus loved children and welcomed them into his presence and told us that they are a part of the Kingdom of God and that if we want to be a part of God’s kingdom we better be ready to accept God as a child.  What that means to me is that we accept Christ with child like joy accepting God’s love even though God’s grace and love is sometimes beyond our understanding.

Remember your baptism and be thankful!

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Filed under Baptism, Grace, Prevenient Grace, Sacraments