Happy Easter

Here is my sermon from this morning.

The following is my column from this morning:

So what is different about tomorrow?

Our kids, some who will still be on a high from too many Easter eggs, will return to school. Most of us will go to work at the same job we did last Monday. A few of us might want to investigate about the possibility of getting our taxes done. We will be busy. The weather will be about the same, hopefully a little warmer and a little less windy. We will live in the same houses. The stock market will have good days and not-so-good days.

So what will be different? Well, for some the answer is absolutely nothing. For others, something will be different.

Death is natural. Loss is natural. Grief is natural. Pain is natural. But Jesus came to the world to trade places with us. Our sin became his sin. His life becomes our life. We have trouble with our life. Jesus is the carpenter who can construct us into the wonderful image of God that we are created to be.

When the stones were rolled away from the tomb, something really unnatural happened. On that day, the dead came to life. God planted a seed of life in us that cannot be killed and if we are blessed enough to have figured this out, there is not a whole lot that we can’t do: move the mountains in front of us, banish fear, love our enemies, forgive somebody who has hurt us, hope for a better tomorrow, get a good night’s sleep, laugh, experience joy, serve the hurting, grow closer to the One who wants nothing more than for you to grow closer to him.

I believe that living has very little to do with a heart that beats and lungs that breath. The Greeks call the beating heart and breathing lungs bios. I believe that living has to do with relating, serving, caring, sharing, daring, dreaming, and loving. The Greeks have a word for this kind of life: zoe. Bios appears in the New Testament 5 times. Zoe appears in the New Testament 133 times. As God’s creation we are granted bios at our birth. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we are given zoe.

So take God up on giving you another chance. Know that today, because our God lives, can be the first day of the rest of your life. My prayer for all of us tomorrow is more zoe. I pray we live as we have never lived before. I pray for us lives full of faith, hope, and love.

Happy Easter,

Craig