Words of Welcome

Luke 9:28-36 This morning we join Peter, James, and John, as they hike up a mountain with Jesus, so he can take time to pray. We get to see what happens on the mountain through the eyes of these three disciples. What we see is truly amazing. We watch as Jesus’ face suddenly radiates light and his clothing became as white as new-fallen snow. If that wasn’t enough to catch our attention, two men appear and begin talking with Jesus. We soon learn that these two men are none other than the prophet Elijah and Moses the lawgiver. If you were there on the mountain top with Peter, James, and John, what would you make of this?  The three disciples had been with Jesus long enough by this point in the story to have seen some amazing things. They had to know there was something special about him. They’d seen him heal people and feed the five thousand. They’d heard him preach. In fact, just a few days earlier, Peter made the good confession that Jesus is the Messiah ( Lk 9:17-20 ). Nevertheless

  1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50 The commercials promise eternal youth. Just buy this product, apply it to your face or other body parts, and you can take years off your appearance. Or maybe it’s a pill. Either way, you can turn back the clock. The truth is, as we’ve already discovered, death is inevitable. Yet, there is the promise of something more.  When it comes to the afterlife, there are quite a few options, even for Christians. While reincarnation has become quite popular, it’s not one of the options that Christian tradition has embraced. So, if we leave that option off the table, what are the options?  There are those who look forward to leaving behind their bodies so they can enjoy life as a disembodied immortal soul. Of course, there are still others, even within the Christian community, who believe that when we die, that’s it. Death is the end of the road. The majority of us, however, live somewhere between the two extremes of disembodied soul and death being the final

1 Corinthians 15:12-20 The spirit of Easter has arrived early in three sets of lectionary readings from 1 Corinthians 15. Paul already revealed to us the core Christian message contained in the church’s confession “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” ( 1 Cor. 15:3 ). That’s Paul’s message, but if this is true, why are some members of the Corinthian church questioning the truth of this message? Why cast doubt on Paul’s message about the resurrection? Paul’s question is as relevant today as it was in the first century. People are still asking questions about the resurrection. Some people have trouble imagining the idea of bodily resurrection, especially since scientific proof is difficult to come by. Paul did offer up witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus, but even that doesn’t suffice for many. It’s possible this was nothing more than a mass hallucination

  1 Corinthians 15:1-11 When did you first hear about Jesus? Who shared the message of Jesus with you? Was it a parent? A Sunday school teacher? A pastor? A friend? Do you remember what you heard? What was the message you first heard?   Depending on how old we were when we first hear about Jesus, the message could have been fairly simple. It might have been as simple as “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” While this children’s song is a good start, it’s only the beginning of a lifelong process of growing in spiritual maturity.  I don’t remember when I first heard about Jesus, but I’m guessing I was fairly young. Since I grew up in the Episcopal Church, I was accustomed to regularly reciting either the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed . Even if I didn’t fully understand the words, I heard the message. While the first creed is relatively simple, the second is a bit more detailed. Those two ancient creeds gave birth to many other statements of faith that can