Rev. Zach

Isaiah 25:6-9 ; Colossians 3:1-4 ; John 20:1-18 “I have seen the Lord, now what?” Mary doesn’t ask that question, but that is the question our readings ask us today. Mary doesn’t ask that question, but it is the logical next step to say, “Now what?” Of course, if we really want to know what this is all about, we could ask the three basic processing questions that I’ve used in years past on challenge courses and other leadership training events. I don’t know their origin, but I learned them from a friend in seminary. The three basic processing questions are “Say what?”; “So what?”; and “Now what?” “Say what?” asks what happened. What was said? What was done? What is the content of the subject we are figuring out together? “So what?” asks what this information means. Why does it matter? “Now what?” asks what we are going to do with this information and our newfound understanding of it. Our readings are the answer to the question, “Say what?” Isaiah speaks of a rich feast where God will s...

Worship With Us: YouTube (please subscribe) Scripture Readings: Isaiah 25:6-9 Matthew 28:1-10 This Easter Sunday is a totally unprecedented event! Who would have ever imagined that people across the world would be united in the experience of worshiping online and in homes, having been chased out of our congregations by our love for the vulnerable? I suppose that if you take the long view of things, there have been plagues and pandemics before – there just weren’t so many people to move. In the middle ages, and across Europe, people were certainly moved out of their normal patterns of worship, and the church moved with them, and the plague followed them. Fortunately, for the most part, the Christian church is taking a more responsible approach this time, but not without significant loss. Certainly, there are congregations big and small feeling the same economic pinch as our members who have lost jobs and businesses that have closed. Yet there is something else that we lament, ...

Isaiah 25:6-9     1 Corinthians 5:6b-8      Luke 24:1-12 The women were first. Peter was amazed. Paul called out pride and the Prophet Isaiah spoke the truth of God’s love: God invites us to a life-giving feast where God will swallow up death. What does that all mean to us, though? For starters it means that we are being invited into the story. In this story, our amazement in the resurrection calls us to become truth and sincerity. That’s the butterfly moment that God has in mind for us. On the other side of our Lenten cocoon is a life where we embody truth and sincerity. We’ve been to the cross, and now we must go to the tomb and be amazed by the fact that he isn’t there. We have to wrestle with the reality that we have been looking for the living among the dead. Today, we must be confronted with the resurrection of Jesus, and what it means to us. All week long I have been struggling with the proclamation   of these three women and the ...

Isaiah 25:6-9      John 11:32-44 Today is the day we celebrate All Saints day in the church. But wait a minute, isn’t sainthood something the Roman Catholics believe in? It’s true. When we aren’t talking about football, the most common references to Saints and sainthood are found in the Roman Catholic faith. For them, Saints are people who lived holy lives and are recognized by the church as protectors, mediators, and agents of action for God’s grace and mercy. Saints are able to comfort and intercede for us when we feel that God has become too distant, or that we have fallen too far away to approach God. In the Reformed tradition we reject the idea that we need someone other than Jesus to intercede for us, and yet in the Apostles Creed we say that we believe in the “Holy Catholic church and the communion of the Saints.” And in many cities across the United States you can find Presbyterian churches named after St. Andrew or St. Paul. How can this be? The s...

Isaiah 25:6-9     1 Corinthians 15:1-11     Luke 24:13-49 Each of us, in our lives, experience what you might call defining moments.  Some of these moments are profound, and some may be quite profane.  Some of them are so mundane that we only catch them in hindsight – like a smile on a bad day, or even the recognition that something you thought went well was deeply flawed.  Defining moments are particular experiences that color your perception of the world.  They may even change the way you think and feel about the person closest to you – the one you see in the mirror. For something to truly be a defining moment, it needs to do one of two things.  It will either transform what you think, feel, and believe, or it will confirm what you think, feel, and believe.  And often times, when something truly affects our perception of the world around us, the first thing we want to do is to share it with someone else.  Usually we wan...