He is Risen!

It is Holy Week, and the entire church is looking forward to Easter Sunday and celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. We may be preparing to participate in Good Friday services, sunrise services, pancake breakfasts, Easter cantatas, ham dinners, and/or Easter egg hunts. Are these celebrations and remembrances that are a part of Holy Week merely history or traditions that we do once a year? Does Jesus’ resurrection have any effect on our daily lives? Should it? What effect did the news of His resurrection have for those first eyewitnesses who arrived to discover an empty tomb that first Resurrection morning?

Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.

Then the angel spoke to the women. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said. ‘I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.’ (Matt 28:1-7 NLT)

Can you imagine the tangled thoughts and emotions of these women? Try putting yourself in their place. It has only been a few days since you witnessed the cruel, violent death of the man that you had invested the past two or three years of your life to follow. Afterwards, you, along with several of His other disciples, hurried to get His body buried in a tomb before the Sabbath began. You all cried together through the Sabbath, utterly devastated by the knowledge that He was really gone, and sealed in a tomb. You tried to process what had happened and what your next steps should be. All you could come up with at the time was that He deserved better than a hurried burial before the Sabbath, so you made plans to revisit His grave. On Sunday morning, a couple of you trudged to the tomb, planning on doing a better job of preparing Jesus’ body for a proper burial.

Try to imagine the shock and joy that collided with the fear and confusion in the minds of these women when they saw the angel and heard the news that Jesus had risen from the dead! How would you have responded to such an astonishing change of events? 

These ladies immediately obeyed the angel’s instructions and they “rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message” (Matt 28:8 NLT). They were so overwhelmed by the good news that Jesus was alive that they could not wait to tell the others. They joyfully did what they were commissioned to do, and then “as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him” (Matt 28:10 NLT).

The news of Jesus’ resurrection turned their lives upside down and moved them to action and to unashamed, extravagant worship. Does the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection do the same for me or for you? Does it move you to action, to do something? Does it move you to unashamed worship of Jesus? The gospel is such amazing news that it should turn our lives upside down, move us to action, and move us to extravagant worship.

Be intentional during this special week, during this time when the entire body of Christ is intensely focused on the suffering, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Allow these events to affect your life. To move you to action. To inspire you to extravagant, unashamed worship. To turn your life upside down for His Kingdom.

(This blogpost was adapted and excerpted from Part One of Follow Jesus, Share the Journey, available on Kindle.)

The Perfect Psalm for Today

If you have read any of my blogs this year, then you know I have been slowly going through the Psalms. Occasionally, I get frustrated with myself because I’m going so slowly. It seems that I am getting behind on some artificial, self-imposed mandate to march through one psalm per day. But then I read the psalm for today, and I realize the timing is perfect. I am not behind. I am right on schedule.

You may or may not know that my sister, Angela, has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. That is her in the photo with my daughter, Sabrina. Angela has been confined to a wheelchair for the past thirty-plus years. She has had a tracheostomy and been on a ventilator so she can breathe for maybe the past ten to fifteen years. She has been in and out of the hospital with pneumonia too many times to count. Each time feels like it might be the last. When she was diagnosed with MD in the 1970’s, the prognosis was that she would only make it to her late teens or early twenties, and she is now 46.

She is currently in the hospital again. This time with double pneumonia and a collapsed lung. As you can imagine, she is experiencing a great deal of fear and anxiety. Not fear of dying, but fear of the feeling of suffocation and pain. I would be too.

This morning, my first thought was that I might skip today’s psalm in order to read and pray over some other passage on healing or peace. But then I decided to go ahead and read the psalm for today anyway. Yesterday, I was on Psalm 55, so 56 was up for today. And it is perfect for today.

Would you join me in praying for Angela. Pray for a sense of peace and calm that can only come from God. Let’s pray these words from Psalm 56 together for her…

“When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
I praise God for what he has promised.
I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? ….
You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book. …
This I know: God is on my side!
I praise God for what he has promised;
Yes, I praise the Lord for what he has promised.
I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? …
For you have rescued me from death;
You have kept my feet from slipping.
So now I can walk in your presence, O God,
In your life-giving light.” (Ps 56:3-4, 8, 9b-11a, 13 NLT)

Through the Storm

I don’t like storms, and I really don’t like to drive in them. I do not want to drive through a torrential downpour or get beat up by hail stones or attempt to keep the car on the road and make it to shelter during a threatening tornado. If I had to guess, I’d say that there are not many people who do like to be out in this type of weather. It’s scary. Probably most of us prefer the safety of solid protection. Strong, reliable protection. Tested protection. Something we know is going to outlast the storm.

During a recent worship service, I was struck by one particular phrase in the chorus of “Cornerstone,” an updated version of the old hymn, “The Solid Rock.”[1] The song speaks about putting our hope in Christ alone and building our lives with Him as our foundation. The chorus is:

Christ alone, Cornerstone,

Weak made strong in the Savior’s love

Through the storm, He is Lord, Lord of all.[2]

Jesus is Lord through the storm. He is the firm, unmoving anchor that we can put our hope in, even during the storms of life. What really struck me recently about this is that if we don’t go through any storms in life (whether they be spiritual, emotional, financial, or anything else that threatens to shake us up), how can we sing with conviction that Jesus is Lord through the storm?

If I build a house on the beach and try to guarantee that it will withstand hurricane-force winds, how will anyone believe me unless that house has been through a storm and has stood firm? If I claim to be anchored to Jesus and stand firm on Him as my foundation, how will anyone believe me unless I have been through the storm and lived to tell about it?

I have been through a number of different storms. Some of them were only a little summer rainstorm, but others involved hurricane-force winds. Some of them threatened to knock me loose from my foundation. But they didn’t. Every time I hit bottom, the Lord speaks to me in some way –through a friend, through a Scripture passage, through a sermon, through a song –and tells me that He is still here. He is still with me. A foundation built on Christ can withstand the storms.

“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone. It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on. Whoever believes need never be shaken.’” (Is 28:16 NLT)

Through the storm, He is Lord, Lord of all.

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[1] Text by Edward Mote; Music by William B. Bradbury

[2] Edward Mote, Eric Liljero, Jonas Myrin, Reuben Morgan; CCLI Song #6158927

Words of Comfort

Christmas music is playing everywhere now. It’s on the radio, in the stores, and in our Sunday morning worship gatherings. Some are new songs, and some have been around for decades. Do you ever really listen to and think about the meaning of the lyrics to any of them, especially the ones you have sung since you were a child, or do you just sing along out of familiarity without thinking about what they mean? This week, a friend and I were discussing one such old Christmas carol.

Have you ever thought much about the phrase “tidings of comfort and joy” that we sing at the end of each verse of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”? The phrase “tidings of joy” is easy.  At the birth of Jesus, the angel announces, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10 KJV). I see tidings of joy, but where are the tidings of comfort? Are we even promised comfort? Are we ever promised a time when we can put up our feet and experience a life of ease?

Jesus seems to promise just the opposite. He says we must carry a cross in order to be His disciple (Luke 9:23), we must be a servant (Matt 20:26-28), and we must give up everything to follow Him (Luke 14:25-35). So where are the words of comfort and ease…the tidings of comfort? Is "tidings of comfort" an appropriate phrase for this Christmas carol? I thought I would investigate this dilemma.

To quote my favorite movie, The Princess Bride: “You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”[1] That seems to be the case here with the word comfort. I found a blog entry from December 2005 entitled “Tidings of Comfort and Joy,” written by an Episcopal priest. He references Isaiah 40:1-2, “Comfort, comfort, my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins,” and explains the word comfort this way:

The original meaning of comfort is “to make strong” –to fortify. It is about taking heart and being encouraged, being strengthened with resolve and given hope that there is better to come. Comfort is not about feeling warm and cozy, it is about facing the future with trust in God and hope in one’s heart, no matter how bad things might have been in the past, or how they might appear at the present. It is a call to be prepared and strong for the good of the days to come…

That makes much more sense than tidings of ease, prosperity, and warm fuzzy blankets! I looked up what he said about the history of the word comfort and he is right. The Oxford Dictionary says comfort is “from late Latin confortare ‘strengthen’, from com- (expressing intensive force) + Latin fortis ‘strong’. The sense ‘something producing physical ease’ arose in the mid 17^th century.”[2]

I love this old/new definition of “tidings of comfort.” Words of strength and encouragement for the days to come are certainly “tidings of comfort” that many of us can use because we are not living in a world of ease and luxury. There are so many among us who are suffering physically or emotionally, or who have to endure days of uncertainty, grief, or darkness.

The birth of Jesus…the arrival of God incarnate…the presence of Immanuel, brings us not only “tidings of joy,” but also “tidings of comfort” – not the warm fuzzy kind but the strengthening, encouraging, fortifying kind of comfort. He may not have us living in the lap of luxury here, but He does want us to be strong and courageous. He wants us to live in faith, not fear. Be encouraged by these tidings of comfort.

Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once more. I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God” (Psalm 71:20-22a NIV).

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[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIP6EwqMEoE (accessed December 9, 2015).

[2] http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/comfort (accessed December 9, 2015).