[Propertalk] Fwd: Easter Day Sermon Resources - Part 2

[Joe Parrish]

We Believe You
 
I ran across a beautiful story recently about a woman named Rosemary who works in the Alzheimer’s Unit of a nursing home. Rosemary and a colleague named Arlene brought the residents of the home together one Good Friday afternoon to view Franco Zeffirelli’s acclaimed production Jesus of Nazareth. They wondered whether these elderly Alzheimer’s patients would even know what was going on, but they thought it might be worth the effort.
 
When they finally succeeded in getting everyone into position, they started the video. Rosemary was pleasantly surprised at the quiet attention being paid to the screen.   At last came the scene where Mary Magdalene comes upon the empty tomb and sees Jesus’ body not there. An unknown man, in reality the risen Christ, asks Mary why she is looking for the living among the dead. Mary runs as fast as she can back to the disciples and tells Peter and the rest with breathless excitement, “He’s alive! I saw Him, I tell you! He’s alive.” The doubt in their eyes causes Mary to pull back. “You don’t believe me . . . You don’t believe me!”
 
>From somewhere in the crowd of Alzheimer’s patients came the clear, resolute voice of Esther, one of the patients. “WE BELIEVE YOU,” she said, “WE BELIEVE YOU!”
 
Well, Esther, I believe it too. The evidence is overwhelming, and life makes no sense without it. Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
 
Rosemary Kadrmas in Jeff Cavins, et.al, Amazing Grace for the Catholic Heart (West Chester, PA: Ascension Press, LLC, 2003), pp. 211-212., adapted by King Duncan
 
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The Cape of Good Hope
 
I can still recall a geography lesson from elementary school in which we learned that the southernmost point of Africa is a point which for centuries has experienced tremendous storms. For many years no one even knew what lay beyond that cape, for no ship attempting to round that point had ever returned to tell the tale. Among the ancients it was known as the "Cape of Storms," and for good reason. But then a Portuguese explorer in the sixteenth century, Vasco De Gama, successfully sailed around that very point and found beyond the wild raging storms, a great calm sea, and beyond that, the shores of India. The name of that cape was changed from the Cape of Storms to the Cape of Good Hope.
 
Until Jesus Christ rose from the dead, death had been the cape of storms on which all hopes of life beyond had been wrecked. No one knew what lay beyond that point until, on Easter morning, those ancient visions of Isaiah became the victory of Jesus over our last great enemy. Suddenly, like those ancient explorers, we can see beyond the storm to the hope of heaven and eternal life with the Father. More than that, we dare to believe that we shall experience in our own human lives exactly what the Son of God experienced in his, for the risen Christ says to us, "Because I live, you shall live also." This is the heart of the Easter faith.
 
Robert Beringer, Easter People, CSS Publishing Company
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It Will Not Be Dark
 
Charles Kingsley was a very gifted and renowned Anglican preacher. Some years ago both he and his wife lay terminally ill in different rooms of the same hospital. They communicated by writing notes. One day his wife had a message sent to him that read: “My darling, is it cowardly of me to tremble before the unseen reality of death.” He wrote back “Do not be afraid! It will not be dark, because God is light. There will be no loneliness for Christ will be there.” That is our resurrection hope.
 
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Anticipation: What Is Going to Happen Today?
 
In Winnie the Pooh, Pooh and Piglet take an evening walk. For a long time they walk in silence. Silence like only best friends can share.
 
Finally Piglet breaks the silence and asks, "When you wake up in the morning, Pooh, what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
 
"What's for breakfast?" answers Pooh and then asks. "And what do you say, Piglet?"
Piglet says, "I say, I wonder what exciting thing is going to happen today?"
 
You and I can't really plan to meet the Risen Christ because we never really know when or where He's going to show up. But you can be sure of this, He will show up. If you believe, He will show up. And the attitude you need to meet him is the attitude of Piglet, "I wonder what exciting thing is going to happen today?"
 
Billy Strayhorn, Easter Heart Burn, www.Sermons.com
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No Grave Deep Enough
 
Several years ago, The Saturday Evening Post ran a cartoon showing a man about to be rescued after he had spent a long time ship-wrecked on a tiny deserted island. The sailor in charge of the rescue team stepped onto the beach and handed the man a stack of newspapers.
 
"Compliments of the Captain," the sailor said. "He would like you to glance at the headlines to see if you'd still like to be rescued!" Sometimes the headlines do scare us. Sometimes we feel that evil is winning, but then along comes Easter, to remind us that there is no grave deep enough, no seal imposing enough, no stone heavy enough, no evil strong enough to keep Christ in the grave.
 
James W. Moore, Some Things Are Too Good Not To Be True, Dimensions, 1994, p. 80.
 
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Expecting Death
 
In many ways, we are like those first disciples, so it seems to me.  We are like the women coming to the grave that day.  They had heard the promise of Jesus that on the third day, the Son of Man would be raised from the dead by the Powers of God. They had heard his promise to the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  They had heard Jesus teach, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will never die.”  Nevertheless, on that morning when they came to the grave, they came expecting death, did they not?  When they came that morning to the grave, in spite of all of Jesus’ promises, they came expecting death.  And I am suspicious that you and I are like those women.  Even though we have heard the promises of God.  Yes, we have heard the promises over and over again e.g. on the third day I will rise; today you will be with me in paradise ; I am the resurrection and the life. We have heard these promises but we come to our graves, and like the women on that first Sunday morning, we are expecting death…
 
The conclusion to this illustration and for many additional illustrations and sermons for Easter and the Easter season can be accessed at www.Sermons.com.
 



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