[Propertalk] Luke 24:1-12 Easter sermon quotes - Part 2

[Joe Parrish]

Whether or not you believe Christ rose from the dead makes all the difference in the world.
Interest, but skepticism: that's the way people have reacted to the Easter story since the very first time it was told. 
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Jesus' resurrection was not a reprieve, a temporary delay of the physical death that comes to every human being. It was the fulfillment of everything the Master had said and done. 
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...several years ago a friend of mine was facing open heart surgery and I was very concerned about him, and in praying about it, I felt the spirit of God saying to me, "Don't you know how much I love him and that whatever happens he will never be out of my care?" That opened me to a new dimension of God's love that is made most visible and dramatic in the resurrection.

http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/noren_3926.htm

Carol Noren, 1996
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Easter Sunday is not an isolated event. It is unique in its climactic nature, but we had glimpses of it over and over again as God repeatedly responded to people faced with the power of death and led them forward to freedom and fullness of life. Easter is everywhere, wherever the Spirit of God comes back in the hearts of downtrodden people and they begin the dance of life, with futures resurrected as they follow the resurrected Lord of life and become part of God's great movement of raising life from the midst of death when all hope seems gone. 

http://www.laughingbird.net/ComingWeeks.html

Easter Sermon #2, Nathan Nettleton, 1996
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We are not unlike those first followers. Though we know well the Easter story, we never seem fully to grasp its meaning. Like them, we so often continue to live burdened with our dashed hopes and with our misunderstanding of God's mysterious power. Like them, we come to the tomb and expect to find death, but instead we find signs of a new life that we cannot even begin to comprehend. Like them, we do not realize that our history has been broken open and is now filled with the resurrected presence of Christ.

http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=2910

Dianne Bergant, 2003
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One Easter the children's liturgy featured different classes presenting their gifts to the risen Jesus. A class of fourth graders lumbered up the aisle with a stuffed teddy bear twice the size of the gift-bearers. The bear then reclined serenely against the altar, facing the congregation. After the liturgy an irate parishioner phoned, appalled at the liturgy and especially the smiling teddy bear, and kept repeating, "It was a total surprise" that "simply did not fit in." After a few forays on my part into the themes of God's love for all creation and gratitude over the enthusiasm of children, the teddy bear remained insurmountable. Finally, with some resignation, I said, "You are absolutely right, it was a total surprise and simply did not fit in; but neither does resurrection from the dead."

http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=2378

John R. Donahue, 2000
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CHILDREN'S TIME: "Easter Eggs and Easter Victory"

An egg looks quite dead and lifeless.
But - given the warm love of the mother hen
it produces a new and wonderful life.

http://spirit-net.ca/sermons/b-ea01se.php

Richard  Fairchild
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Resurrection Rolls, Crescent rolls, Melted Butter, Large Marshmallows, Cinnamon, Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in. 
Give each child a marshmallow, this represents Jesus.
Have him dip the marshmallow in melted butter, which represents the oils of embalming.
Then dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar which represents the spices used to anoint the body.
Then wrap up the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll (not like a typical crescent roll up...but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside. This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.

Place in a 350 degree oven for 10 - 12 minutes (The oven 
represents the tomb--pretend like it was three days!). 
When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their
rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, HE IS
RISEN! 
(The marshmallow melts and the crescent roll is puffed up, but
empty).

http://talks2children.itsforministry.org/t2c/view.asp?ID=73

G. Utz
[Just checking to see if you read this!  It has my vote for the most creative!  Marshmallow theology!]
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