SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, April 23, 2023

Dear Friends in Christ –

What curious times we live in.

Our text this Sunday has the elements of a great tragedy. Plot and character are the two most important elements of a good narrative according to Aristotle. What could be more compelling than a small town carpenter’s seemingly illegitimate son claiming divinity, wrenching ‘disciples’ from their homes and family obligations, offering redemption healing and restoration to an oppressed and cowered people. Then surrendering to arrest, torture, humiliation and execution…only to rise! He then encounters, incognito, two soul-crushed devotees trudging home in utter defeat reporting despairingly the sad tale, “…but we had hoped.” (Luke 24:13-35)

Remember dear friends, we’ve read the end of the book. But for those who could not, or who have not read the Bible, can we locate hope in this scripture and inspiration for these days?

Answer: Yes!

Let’s gather this Sunday at 10:30. We’ll discover together Jesus God’s message for this day, for these days of crazy assault and confusing rhetoric. We’ll be reminded that the God who lives is our paraclete, our advocate, our inspiration and companion on the way, in God’s way.

With great anticipation in these challenging days –

When I heard of these shootings in New York state and in Missouri, they made me think that our predicament now is deeper than we sometimes realize. We don’t just have a gun crisis, although we do. We don’t just have a polarization problem, or a disinformation problem, or a right-wing extremism problem, although we have all of these problems, and they are severe.

We’ve entered into a state in which anonymous trust is cracking, where nothing and no one can be trusted, and everyone in the world from beyond your moat is a suspect.

We can find hope and take heart in our text, Luke 24:13-35.