April 20, 2025 • 30 mins
Love Has the Last Word, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: Finding Hope in Hard Places A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: John 20.1; John 20.16.
Join us this Easter Sunday and discover a powerful message of hope that breaks through darkness. Whether online or in-person, hear how love conquers despair and why the worst thing doesn’t have to be the last thing.
Join us each Sunday, 10AM at bendfp.org, or 11AM KTVZ-CW Channel 612/12 in Bend. Subscribe/Follow, and click the bell for alerts.
At First Presbyterian, you will meet people at many different places theologically and spiritually. And we love it that way. We want to be a place where our diversity brings us together and where conversation takes us all deeper in our understanding of God.
We call this kind of faith “Spacious Christianity.” We don’t ask anyone to sign creeds or statements of belief. The life of faith is about a way of being in the world and a faith that shows itself in love.
Thank you for your support of the mission of the First Presbyterian Church of Bend. Visit https://bendfp.org/giving/ for more information.
Keywords:
love, easter, jesus, tomb, hate, word, week, story, project, impossible, suffering, woman, life, reconciliation, dark, long awaited messiah, rwanda, empty tomb, perpetrators, man, presbyterian, church, online worship, bend, oregon
Featuring:
Rev. Dr. Steven Koski, Rev. Sharon Edwards, Becca Ellis, Brave of Heart, Guests
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Steven (00:00):
You welcome and Thanks for joining our Easter
(00:43):
celebration at first,Presbyterian, you know, when
faced with trying to describe atruth so profound it's actually
hard to comprehend, I find it'sbest to turn to the simple so
it's my tradition on Easter toturn to My favorite Easter book
written by my favoritetheologian, Dr Seuss, and it's
(01:04):
called on beyond zebra. And itbegins like this, said Conrad
Cornelius O'Donnell O'Dell, myvery young friend who was
learning to spell, A is for ape,B is for Bear, C is for camel, H
is for hair, onto Z is forzebra. I know them all well,
said Conrad Cornelius or DonaldO'Dell, from beginning to end,
(01:28):
from the start to the close. Imean, everyone knows z is as far
as the alphabet goes. Then healmost fell flat on his face on
the floor when I picked up thechalk and drew one letter more,
a letter he'd never dreamed ofbefore. In the places I go and
(01:50):
the people I see, I couldn'tsurvive if I stopped at z so on
beyond zebra, it's high time youwere shown that maybe, just
maybe, you don't know all thereis to be no on Easter we
celebrate, we celebrate that theworst things in life are never
(02:15):
the last thing that love willalways have the last word just
when we think z is as far as thealphabet goes, God picks up the
chart and draws one letter more,a letter we've never dreamed of
before. I am so glad you'vejoined us, and I pray that we
(02:39):
might open our hearts to thehope of one that or more, for
ourselves and for our world asWe celebrate Easter, Christ is
risen. Christ is risen. Indeed.
Unknown (05:49):
Greetings, friends. My name is Sharon Edwards and I
have just recently joined firstPresbyterians pastoral team.
Please join me in prayer. RisenOne. On this day of mystery and
surprise, we are reminded of howmuch we long for certainty,
(06:11):
predictability and answers. Whenwe become so certain of our own
certainty, we fail to see thatthere is so much more than what
we see when we find our strengthonly in answers and
predictability, we fail toexperience you in the beauty of
(06:36):
The questions, and forget toopen to your wisdom, source of
love on this day, resurrect usfrom self interest that denies
the value and needs of others.
Lift our diminishing hope as wesurvey the world's pain, we lift
(06:58):
up to you, those who are stillweeping in the garden and who
are still living in the pain ofGood Friday, pour in us your
gusto giving grace, so as We arefilled with your transforming
love, we may also pour outourselves to this thirsty world,
(07:23):
source of life. We thank you forsunrises and new flowers and the
relationships that remind us ofthe rhythms of life and death
that are held tenderly in yourcare. Raise us from our tombs of
(07:45):
liturgy and apathy on this newday, breathe new life in us and
in the earth that your vitalityand creativity may continue to
power our lives for the good ofall source of hope, push back
(08:10):
the stone of despair, restoreour ancient union with you and
all of life, refresh our momentby moment. Call to embrace your
constant presence. May we seekyou and see you an all enfolding
(08:35):
and encompassing source of lifeand love and hope together, we
say amen.
Steven (08:52):
This past week was called Holy Week, but if we jump
straight from Palm Sunday to thejoy of Easter, we miss how
unholy the events around thelast days of Jesus' life really
were. You know, in this worldwhere we see the love of power
always trying to flex itsmuscles, this past week, we
(09:13):
witnessed the humility of Jesusas he held the dirty, tired,
cracked feet of his disciples inhis hands and tenderly washed
them and said, Love one anotherlike this. This past week, we
remembered one of Jesus's owndisciples sold him out for a few
(09:33):
pieces of silver, betrayed Himwith a kiss. They rested Jesus
because his way of justice andmercy and love was was a threat
to the Empire. They accusedJesus of all sorts of things,
but all he did was love and healand and forgive. All he did was
(09:55):
hang around with outcasts andpeople who lived on the margins
and. All he did was tear downwalls, build bridges, welcome
everyone to eat with him at thetable, especially those the
religious leaders said were notwelcome. All he did was give
people hope. All he did was lovein a way no one had ever seen
(10:20):
before this past Friday, weremembered how they beat him,
humiliated him, stripped himnaked, They rammed a crown of
thorns on his head, and theylaughed before he died, Jesus
looked into the eyes of the oneswho spit on him, mocked him, the
(10:41):
ones who drove the nails intohis hands, and inexplicably
said, bother, forgive them. Thisman, Jesus, who many believe was
the Holy One, the prophet spokeof so long ago, who they believe
was the long awaited Messiah,the One who had saved them. This
(11:07):
man was brutally executed. Youknow, there's nothing more evil
than what happened on that socalled Good Friday, his friends
deserted him, some so scared,they even denied knowing him.
Only the women stayed andwitnessed the one that they
loved die. They saw their hopesand dreams of a different life,
(11:33):
a different world, die and besealed in a tomb with him. It
was a gruesome week. That firstHoly Week was a week of intense
grief, a week when violence andjustice, suffering death claimed
(11:53):
victory and broke the hearts andspirits of those who followed
Jesus. It's so important onEaster to remember that part of
the story, because what wecelebrate with an empty tomb on
Easter is that it wasn't the endof the story. The Easter
(12:17):
surprise is that injustice,suffering, Despair, Death, do
not have the last word God does.
And the word God spoke andcontinues to speak is of a love
that refuses to be defeated, alove stronger than even death
itself. Han la Motte wrote,Easter isn't about proving
(12:40):
anything as if he can possiblyexplain the unexplainable.
Easter is about choosing tobelieve and bet your life on
this one thing, that love, thatlove is stronger than any of the
grim, bleak crap light couldthrow at us. I was asked
(13:03):
recently if I really, if Ireally believed in the
resurrection. You know, insteadof giving a theological
response, I told a story. I tolda story about a photo SCA saw in
the New York Times about theproject of reconciliation in
(13:25):
Rwanda. It's been 30 years sincethe Hutus took up hate and
weapons against their Tutsineighbors, leading to a genocide
that claimed over a millionlives, you know, with so much
suffering and trauma, so muchbitterness and hate. You know,
(13:45):
it was hard to imagine the cycleof revenge and retaliation could
be broken. It was hard toimagine that a different future
than the one of hate andviolence was actually possible.
It seemed impossible to thinkthat a different story could be
(14:05):
told, just as today. It seemsimpossible to imagine peace and
reconciliation in places likeGaza and Ukraine or even in our
own deeply divided country. Youknow, maybe that's what
hopelessness feels like, trappedin the dark tomb, reliving the
(14:28):
same old story, feeling thestone will never be rolled away.
Nothing will ever change inRwanda, in spite of the deeply
entrenched hate and pain fromthat horrifying conflict, love
insisted on having the last wordlove stirred in the imagination
(14:54):
of leaders and peacemakers whowere foolish enough to believe
that. A different story than theone they were living was
possible. They proposed aproject of reconciliation, and
the projects create. The projectcourageously stated that those
imprisoned for war crimes andgenocide could be released, set
(15:18):
free, if their victims werewilling to reconcile and the
perpetrators were willing toconfess their violence, and both
parties were willing to live anew life and somehow do it
(15:39):
together. Can you imagineunthinkable, impossible? How can
you overcome, heal, transformthat depth of pain and trauma? I
mean, surely there are instancesthat cannot be overcome. Surely,
(16:00):
there are instances, instanceswhere despair and death really
do have the last word. The NewYork Times photo essay of this
project of reconciliation is ofis a perpetrators standing next
to their victims, people whohave miraculously moved to a
(16:23):
place of forgiveness and lovefor their enemy. I mean, one
photo and story that shocked meis this one of an older woman
next to a younger man. Thiswoman became a mother to the
young man who brutally killedher own children, who does that.
(16:47):
How is that kind of love evenpossible? Here's what the woman
said. She said, this unspeakabletragedy will always be part of
my story, but I refuse to haveit be my whole story or the end
(17:11):
of my story. I refuse to lethate win. She said I had to
trust there's a goodnessstronger than evil, a
forgiveness stronger than myhate, a love that can do for me
what I can't do for myself. Shesaid I had to believe there is
(17:35):
something more beyond by painand grief, this young man took
my family away, and I need tolove so God gave me the freedom
and the power to love him. Itwas hate in his heart that led
(17:58):
to such evil and that hate canonly be healed with love. She
said, Love has to have the lastword, Wow, just wow. You know
that kind of love cannot beexplained. Easter is not about
(18:21):
trying to explain theunexplainable. Easter is about
being willing to bet our life onone thing, that there is a love
stronger than anything that lifecan throw at us, that even the
very worst thing will never bethe last thing. And I don't know
(18:46):
about you, but I really need tobelieve that. I really need to
believe that now these days,more than ever,
you know, if we have faith thatlove has the last word, we'll
keep feeding the hungry, eventhough the line of those who are
hungry is longer today than itwas yesterday. If we have faith
(19:07):
that love is the last word,we'll keep praying and working
for peace even when peace seemsimpossible. We'll keep fighting
for a world where every lifematters, even when when hate
seems to be shouting louder andlouder every single day. If we
have faith that love, that lovereally does have the last word,
(19:32):
we can sit with our loved onewho has Alzheimer's and doesn't
even recognize who we are,because we can trust that kind
of suffering will not be the endof the story. If we have faith
that love has last word. I I cansay to all of you who are going
(19:52):
through hell, and I know so manyof you are facing hard things,
impossible things, I can say toyou, don't stop you. Keep going,
because the worst thing willnever be the last thing, if we
have faith that love has thelast word we can say to those
(20:16):
who are grief stricken, death isnot the end that beyond this
life, there is more life. If wehave faith that love will always
have the last word, we'll keepshowing up to do the work of
(20:39):
love that is ours to do, evenwhen we face large boulders that
seem humanly impossible to berolled away. The Gospel of John
begins the Easter story thisway, on the first day of the
week, while it was still dark,Mary Magdalene, a dear friend
(21:05):
and follower of Jesus, makes herway to the tomb while it is
still dark. Mary doesn't enterEaster with joy and celebration,
certain everything's going towork out. She arrives to the
tomb with swollen red eyes fromcrying more tears than she's
(21:28):
ever shed in her life. She goesto the tomb while it is still
dark. That's so important,because I know so many of you
come to Easter this year, whileit is still dark, in the midst
of your own pain and grief,there are so many places in our
(21:49):
world where it is still dark,the Easter story begins with the
words we know only too well,while it is still dark. But the
story doesn't stop there. Itsays, on the first day of the
(22:10):
week, while it was still dark,Mary Magdalene came to the tomb
and saw the stone was rolledaway. What if we had the courage
to end the story right there?
You know, before we tried toexplain the unexplainable,
before wonder calcifies intointerpretation and then
(22:33):
concretizes into dogma overwhich we would spend 1000s of
years fighting, before we turnthe mystery of the resurrection
into a test about whether webelieve the right things. What
if we had the courage just toexperience the event without
(22:53):
needing to explain or prove theevent or even be sure what it's
all about? To simply stand atthe mouth of the empty tomb with
Mary in awe and maybe a littlefear, allowing just enough
imagination and faith to trustthat there is a love powerful
(23:16):
enough to not only empty a tomb,but powerful enough to heal all
the brokenness in our lives andin this world, there is a love
that refuses to die, no matterwhat The world throws against
it. In the Easter story, Maryonly knows it's Jesus. When he
(23:43):
calls her by name, Jesus said toher, Mary, and in that moment,
she knows the worst thing willnever be, the last thing that
love will always have the lastword. What if this Easter we
dared to believe and imaginethat love is calling us by name,
(24:10):
not asking us to explain theunexplainable, but inviting us
to bet our life on one thingthat love is stronger than any
of the grim, bleak crap life canthrow at us, stronger than even
(24:31):
death itself. For today, allthat's asked of us is to stand
at the mouth of the empty tombwith Mary and just open our
hearts to the possibility ofsuch a love tomorrow we can join
(24:53):
together in. And prove to thisworld that love will always
have. The last word, may it be,so, Christ is risen. Christ is
risen. Indeed.
(27:36):
Friends on this Easter, may webet our lives on one thing,
love. Love is stronger thananything the world can throw
against us. Go in the peace andthe love of the risen Christ,
and May the love that we bringto this world bring hope and
(27:59):
peace to others. Christ isrisen. Christ is risen. Indeed
Happy Easter. Friends, thanksfor joining us, and I hope you
enjoyed this Easter celebration.
The mission of FirstPresbyterian is to live the
spacious and radical love ofJesus so that all might have a
chance to flourish in thisworld. We exist to serve Jesus
(28:22):
by serving others being apresence of hope, healing and
love, when and where it isneeded the most. Your generous
gifts help us prove to thosetrapped in tombs of despair and
hopelessness that there is alove stronger than whatever it
(28:42):
is they are facing. Yourgenerous gifts help people
believe a new story is possiblefor their lives. You can scan
the QR code on your screen. Youcan give online@bandfp.org or
simply send a check. There areso many in this world who are
(29:04):
feeling defeated, you know,really believing that that z is
as far as the alphabet goes. Iinvite you to imagine God has
placed the chalk in your hand,and God is asking all of us,
with our generosity, with ourlove, to write, to write one
letter more, a letter the worldright now has never dreamed of
(29:31):
before, may we prove With ourlives that love will always have
the last word Happy Easter. You.
You welcome and Thanks for joining our Easter
(00:43):
celebration at first,Presbyterian, you know, when
faced with trying to describe atruth so profound it's actually
hard to comprehend, I find it'sbest to turn to the simple so
it's my tradition on Easter toturn to My favorite Easter book
written by my favoritetheologian, Dr Seuss, and it's
(01:04):
called on beyond zebra. And itbegins like this, said Conrad
Cornelius O'Donnell O'Dell, myvery young friend who was
learning to spell, A is for ape,B is for Bear, C is for camel, H
is for hair, onto Z is forzebra. I know them all well,
said Conrad Cornelius or DonaldO'Dell, from beginning to end,
(01:28):
from the start to the close. Imean, everyone knows z is as far
as the alphabet goes. Then healmost fell flat on his face on
the floor when I picked up thechalk and drew one letter more,
a letter he'd never dreamed ofbefore. In the places I go and
(01:50):
the people I see, I couldn'tsurvive if I stopped at z so on
beyond zebra, it's high time youwere shown that maybe, just
maybe, you don't know all thereis to be no on Easter we
celebrate, we celebrate that theworst things in life are never
(02:15):
the last thing that love willalways have the last word just
when we think z is as far as thealphabet goes, God picks up the
chart and draws one letter more,a letter we've never dreamed of
before. I am so glad you'vejoined us, and I pray that we
(02:39):
might open our hearts to thehope of one that or more, for
ourselves and for our world asWe celebrate Easter, Christ is
risen. Christ is risen. Indeed.
Unknown (05:49):
Greetings, friends. My name is Sharon Edwards and I
have just recently joined firstPresbyterians pastoral team.
Please join me in prayer. RisenOne. On this day of mystery and
surprise, we are reminded of howmuch we long for certainty,
(06:11):
predictability and answers. Whenwe become so certain of our own
certainty, we fail to see thatthere is so much more than what
we see when we find our strengthonly in answers and
predictability, we fail toexperience you in the beauty of
(06:36):
The questions, and forget toopen to your wisdom, source of
love on this day, resurrect usfrom self interest that denies
the value and needs of others.
Lift our diminishing hope as wesurvey the world's pain, we lift
(06:58):
up to you, those who are stillweeping in the garden and who
are still living in the pain ofGood Friday, pour in us your
gusto giving grace, so as We arefilled with your transforming
love, we may also pour outourselves to this thirsty world,
(07:23):
source of life. We thank you forsunrises and new flowers and the
relationships that remind us ofthe rhythms of life and death
that are held tenderly in yourcare. Raise us from our tombs of
(07:45):
liturgy and apathy on this newday, breathe new life in us and
in the earth that your vitalityand creativity may continue to
power our lives for the good ofall source of hope, push back
(08:10):
the stone of despair, restoreour ancient union with you and
all of life, refresh our momentby moment. Call to embrace your
constant presence. May we seekyou and see you an all enfolding
(08:35):
and encompassing source of lifeand love and hope together, we
say amen.
Steven (08:52):
This past week was called Holy Week, but if we jump
straight from Palm Sunday to thejoy of Easter, we miss how
unholy the events around thelast days of Jesus' life really
were. You know, in this worldwhere we see the love of power
always trying to flex itsmuscles, this past week, we
(09:13):
witnessed the humility of Jesusas he held the dirty, tired,
cracked feet of his disciples inhis hands and tenderly washed
them and said, Love one anotherlike this. This past week, we
remembered one of Jesus's owndisciples sold him out for a few
(09:33):
pieces of silver, betrayed Himwith a kiss. They rested Jesus
because his way of justice andmercy and love was was a threat
to the Empire. They accusedJesus of all sorts of things,
but all he did was love and healand and forgive. All he did was
(09:55):
hang around with outcasts andpeople who lived on the margins
and. All he did was tear downwalls, build bridges, welcome
everyone to eat with him at thetable, especially those the
religious leaders said were notwelcome. All he did was give
people hope. All he did was lovein a way no one had ever seen
(10:20):
before this past Friday, weremembered how they beat him,
humiliated him, stripped himnaked, They rammed a crown of
thorns on his head, and theylaughed before he died, Jesus
looked into the eyes of the oneswho spit on him, mocked him, the
(10:41):
ones who drove the nails intohis hands, and inexplicably
said, bother, forgive them. Thisman, Jesus, who many believe was
the Holy One, the prophet spokeof so long ago, who they believe
was the long awaited Messiah,the One who had saved them. This
(11:07):
man was brutally executed. Youknow, there's nothing more evil
than what happened on that socalled Good Friday, his friends
deserted him, some so scared,they even denied knowing him.
Only the women stayed andwitnessed the one that they
loved die. They saw their hopesand dreams of a different life,
(11:33):
a different world, die and besealed in a tomb with him. It
was a gruesome week. That firstHoly Week was a week of intense
grief, a week when violence andjustice, suffering death claimed
(11:53):
victory and broke the hearts andspirits of those who followed
Jesus. It's so important onEaster to remember that part of
the story, because what wecelebrate with an empty tomb on
Easter is that it wasn't the endof the story. The Easter
(12:17):
surprise is that injustice,suffering, Despair, Death, do
not have the last word God does.
And the word God spoke andcontinues to speak is of a love
that refuses to be defeated, alove stronger than even death
itself. Han la Motte wrote,Easter isn't about proving
(12:40):
anything as if he can possiblyexplain the unexplainable.
Easter is about choosing tobelieve and bet your life on
this one thing, that love, thatlove is stronger than any of the
grim, bleak crap light couldthrow at us. I was asked
(13:03):
recently if I really, if Ireally believed in the
resurrection. You know, insteadof giving a theological
response, I told a story. I tolda story about a photo SCA saw in
the New York Times about theproject of reconciliation in
(13:25):
Rwanda. It's been 30 years sincethe Hutus took up hate and
weapons against their Tutsineighbors, leading to a genocide
that claimed over a millionlives, you know, with so much
suffering and trauma, so muchbitterness and hate. You know,
(13:45):
it was hard to imagine the cycleof revenge and retaliation could
be broken. It was hard toimagine that a different future
than the one of hate andviolence was actually possible.
It seemed impossible to thinkthat a different story could be
(14:05):
told, just as today. It seemsimpossible to imagine peace and
reconciliation in places likeGaza and Ukraine or even in our
own deeply divided country. Youknow, maybe that's what
hopelessness feels like, trappedin the dark tomb, reliving the
(14:28):
same old story, feeling thestone will never be rolled away.
Nothing will ever change inRwanda, in spite of the deeply
entrenched hate and pain fromthat horrifying conflict, love
insisted on having the last wordlove stirred in the imagination
(14:54):
of leaders and peacemakers whowere foolish enough to believe
that. A different story than theone they were living was
possible. They proposed aproject of reconciliation, and
the projects create. The projectcourageously stated that those
imprisoned for war crimes andgenocide could be released, set
(15:18):
free, if their victims werewilling to reconcile and the
perpetrators were willing toconfess their violence, and both
parties were willing to live anew life and somehow do it
(15:39):
together. Can you imagineunthinkable, impossible? How can
you overcome, heal, transformthat depth of pain and trauma? I
mean, surely there are instancesthat cannot be overcome. Surely,
(16:00):
there are instances, instanceswhere despair and death really
do have the last word. The NewYork Times photo essay of this
project of reconciliation is ofis a perpetrators standing next
to their victims, people whohave miraculously moved to a
(16:23):
place of forgiveness and lovefor their enemy. I mean, one
photo and story that shocked meis this one of an older woman
next to a younger man. Thiswoman became a mother to the
young man who brutally killedher own children, who does that.
(16:47):
How is that kind of love evenpossible? Here's what the woman
said. She said, this unspeakabletragedy will always be part of
my story, but I refuse to haveit be my whole story or the end
(17:11):
of my story. I refuse to lethate win. She said I had to
trust there's a goodnessstronger than evil, a
forgiveness stronger than myhate, a love that can do for me
what I can't do for myself. Shesaid I had to believe there is
(17:35):
something more beyond by painand grief, this young man took
my family away, and I need tolove so God gave me the freedom
and the power to love him. Itwas hate in his heart that led
(17:58):
to such evil and that hate canonly be healed with love. She
said, Love has to have the lastword, Wow, just wow. You know
that kind of love cannot beexplained. Easter is not about
(18:21):
trying to explain theunexplainable. Easter is about
being willing to bet our life onone thing, that there is a love
stronger than anything that lifecan throw at us, that even the
very worst thing will never bethe last thing. And I don't know
(18:46):
about you, but I really need tobelieve that. I really need to
believe that now these days,more than ever,
you know, if we have faith thatlove has the last word, we'll
keep feeding the hungry, eventhough the line of those who are
hungry is longer today than itwas yesterday. If we have faith
(19:07):
that love is the last word,we'll keep praying and working
for peace even when peace seemsimpossible. We'll keep fighting
for a world where every lifematters, even when when hate
seems to be shouting louder andlouder every single day. If we
have faith that love, that lovereally does have the last word,
(19:32):
we can sit with our loved onewho has Alzheimer's and doesn't
even recognize who we are,because we can trust that kind
of suffering will not be the endof the story. If we have faith
that love has last word. I I cansay to all of you who are going
(19:52):
through hell, and I know so manyof you are facing hard things,
impossible things, I can say toyou, don't stop you. Keep going,
because the worst thing willnever be the last thing, if we
have faith that love has thelast word we can say to those
(20:16):
who are grief stricken, death isnot the end that beyond this
life, there is more life. If wehave faith that love will always
have the last word, we'll keepshowing up to do the work of
(20:39):
love that is ours to do, evenwhen we face large boulders that
seem humanly impossible to berolled away. The Gospel of John
begins the Easter story thisway, on the first day of the
week, while it was still dark,Mary Magdalene, a dear friend
(21:05):
and follower of Jesus, makes herway to the tomb while it is
still dark. Mary doesn't enterEaster with joy and celebration,
certain everything's going towork out. She arrives to the
tomb with swollen red eyes fromcrying more tears than she's
(21:28):
ever shed in her life. She goesto the tomb while it is still
dark. That's so important,because I know so many of you
come to Easter this year, whileit is still dark, in the midst
of your own pain and grief,there are so many places in our
(21:49):
world where it is still dark,the Easter story begins with the
words we know only too well,while it is still dark. But the
story doesn't stop there. Itsays, on the first day of the
(22:10):
week, while it was still dark,Mary Magdalene came to the tomb
and saw the stone was rolledaway. What if we had the courage
to end the story right there?
You know, before we tried toexplain the unexplainable,
before wonder calcifies intointerpretation and then
(22:33):
concretizes into dogma overwhich we would spend 1000s of
years fighting, before we turnthe mystery of the resurrection
into a test about whether webelieve the right things. What
if we had the courage just toexperience the event without
(22:53):
needing to explain or prove theevent or even be sure what it's
all about? To simply stand atthe mouth of the empty tomb with
Mary in awe and maybe a littlefear, allowing just enough
imagination and faith to trustthat there is a love powerful
(23:16):
enough to not only empty a tomb,but powerful enough to heal all
the brokenness in our lives andin this world, there is a love
that refuses to die, no matterwhat The world throws against
it. In the Easter story, Maryonly knows it's Jesus. When he
(23:43):
calls her by name, Jesus said toher, Mary, and in that moment,
she knows the worst thing willnever be, the last thing that
love will always have the lastword. What if this Easter we
dared to believe and imaginethat love is calling us by name,
(24:10):
not asking us to explain theunexplainable, but inviting us
to bet our life on one thingthat love is stronger than any
of the grim, bleak crap life canthrow at us, stronger than even
(24:31):
death itself. For today, allthat's asked of us is to stand
at the mouth of the empty tombwith Mary and just open our
hearts to the possibility ofsuch a love tomorrow we can join
(24:53):
together in. And prove to thisworld that love will always
have. The last word, may it be,so, Christ is risen. Christ is
risen. Indeed.
(27:36):
Friends on this Easter, may webet our lives on one thing,
love. Love is stronger thananything the world can throw
against us. Go in the peace andthe love of the risen Christ,
and May the love that we bringto this world bring hope and
(27:59):
peace to others. Christ isrisen. Christ is risen. Indeed
Happy Easter. Friends, thanksfor joining us, and I hope you
enjoyed this Easter celebration.
The mission of FirstPresbyterian is to live the
spacious and radical love ofJesus so that all might have a
chance to flourish in thisworld. We exist to serve Jesus
(28:22):
by serving others being apresence of hope, healing and
love, when and where it isneeded the most. Your generous
gifts help us prove to thosetrapped in tombs of despair and
hopelessness that there is alove stronger than whatever it
(28:42):
is they are facing. Yourgenerous gifts help people
believe a new story is possiblefor their lives. You can scan
the QR code on your screen. Youcan give online@bandfp.org or
simply send a check. There areso many in this world who are
(29:04):
feeling defeated, you know,really believing that that z is
as far as the alphabet goes. Iinvite you to imagine God has
placed the chalk in your hand,and God is asking all of us,
with our generosity, with ourlove, to write, to write one
letter more, a letter the worldright now has never dreamed of
(29:31):
before, may we prove With ourlives that love will always have
the last word Happy Easter. You.
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