Date: April 15, 2012
Liturgical Sunday: Second Sunday of Easter
RCL Scripture: Psalm 133; Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31
Sermon Title: So how do we live now?
Knox Presbyterian [audio:https://wordsfromthemiddle.ca/wp-content/uploads/120415_-_Knox1.mp3|titles=So how do we live now?]
St. Mark’s Presbyterian [audio:https://wordsfromthemiddle.ca/wp-content/uploads/120415_-_St_Marks1.mp3|titles=How do we live now?]
We are into the season of Easter. This is another season that I didn’t really grow up with. Oh we had Good Friday and Easter Sunday (frequently confusing the two and ending up with the functional equivalent of two Easter “He is Risen!” Sunday kind of services; which is a topic for another day. What we definitely did not have was a sense that we could have an extended celebration and awareness of Easter and what it means. These opportunities, e.g. Easter, Advent, etc. for extended reflection are one of the very best parts of the liturgical year.
This Sunday’s sermons are my first Easter attempt to grapple with what the Easter event (as some biblical studies specialists call it) means to us. What actual difference does it make today? We know, or can easily imagine, what it meant to Jesus’ immediate followers but what about us? The title of the sermon should make what I am after a little easier to see if it is rendered as “So how do we live now?” How do we live in light of our celebration of Easter that just happened. Of course we are not going to live in some dramatically new way, after all, we are already living in the reality of the original Easter but what about right now, today; does Easter make a difference? The answer, which should come as no surprise to anyone, is yes, or even Yes! It does make a difference. The three non-Psalm texts each give us a way that we can live now. They may note be dramatically new but they may prove to be fresh ways to look at who we are as post-Easter people.
Thanks for reading and listening.
Easter blessings on you all,
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