POSTLUDE MONDAY, APRIL 9

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the
power and the glory, forever.
Amen.

Let All Who Pray the Prayer Christ Taught

(Thomas H. Troeger 1986 – Presbyterian Hymnal 349)

Let all who pray the prayer Christ taught
First clear the cluttered heart.
Make room to breathe the living thought
Those well-worn words impart.

Dismiss the fear that this world drifts
With no one in command.
Your pulse and breath are signs and gifts
From God's attentive hand.

Refine and test each passing aim
Against this final one:
Has your life hallowed heaven's name
And has God's will been done?

Discard each vengeful hope that's fed
The dreams of wars you'll win,
Then freely ask for daily bread
And pardon from your sin.

Examine how temptation breeds
Inside the mind's dark maze,
Acknowledging that your life needs
Deliverance from its ways.

By faithful discipline prepare
An inward holy space
That when you offer Jesus' prayer
Your heart may fill with grace.

EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 8

Mark 16:9-11 After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared early on Sunday morning to Mary Magdalene … . She went to his former companions … and told them. When they heard her report that she had seen him alive and well, they didn't believe her.

It was a daring bank robbery. A man came to the teller’s window, pretended to want to cash a check, then claimed to have a gun and demanded money. The robber got his cash and quickly left. The only problem was that he had left something behind – his ID. The police were waiting for him when he got home. This is one of those things that happens in this world that is so strange that no one could have possibly made it up – sort of like the resurrection.

The resurrection story is strange. It is strange because Jesus was crucified, dead and buried. It is strange because a dead messiah was a failed messiah. It is strange because Jesus first appeared to women and not to the men. It is strange that Jesus appeared to a woman who had once been demon possessed. It is strange because God doesn’t raise convicts from the dead. It is strange because the resurrection was only supposed to happen at the end of time when God renewed the world.

This is a strange story – a story so strange that it has to be – well – true. It has to be true because no one was expecting Jesus to be raised. It has to be true because the disciples would never have invented the fact that Jesus first appeared to the women. It has to true because no new religious movement would ask people to follow disciples who had not believed in a miracle about its founder. It has to be true because no one would have made it up.

The resurrection story is strange. Yet the resurrection is the heart of our faith. It is the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth that shows us that death and sin have been defeated and that radically new life is possible. It is Jesus’ resurrection that shows us that eternal life is possible for us as well.

So on this Easter day, let us give thanks for this strange story that it might continue to give us hope day in and day out as we strive to faithfully follow the risen, reigning Christ.

John Judson