Between Sundays Logo

Between Sundays for Week of April 17, 2023

Last week, the women left the empty tomb to do as Jesus said: tell the disciples that Christ is risen! Go and meet him in Galilee!

This week, we found out how they responded to that news: they locked themselves in a room. Even after Jesus himself appears to them, they remain locked in a room, afraid of the outside world.

Fear is powerful. Fear keeps us trapped, sequestered, prevented from doing what we were created to do. Fear keeps us in our place.

When we’re afraid, certainty can feel like a better option than faith. Locking ourselves in a room and knowing what to expect – even when that reality feels miserable, hopeless, unfair, unjust – can feel less scary, even preferable to opening the door to a world where the dead don’t stay dead and who knows what else might be possible.

But Pastor Hoffman reminds us that the good news of Easter extends beyond one Sunday. Jesus shows up, and keeps showing up to the disciples (and us) over and over again, as many times as it takes, to find a way in to our locked rooms and cold hearts and closed minds.

Thanks to be God!  Alleluia! Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed, alleluia!

P.S. The Lyric Chorale (which includes many familiar faces from BLC) will present its Spring concert, Music for Royal Occasions, Friday, April 21, at 12 Corners Presbyterian Church, 1200 S Winton Rd., Brighton. Note that the venue has changed from previous publicity! The concert is at 7:30 pm and will include music by Handel, Vaughan Williams, Purcell, and others. The choir will be accompanied by organ, strings, and trumpets. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the door.

The Word Logo

Fear is powerful. Fear kept the disciples locked in a room instead of sharing the good news that Jesus is risen. How often do we let fear keep us in our place instead of stepping out in faith? The good news is that Jesus shows up and meets us behind closed doors to give us the courage and faith to venture out.

Ponderings

Each Sunday we exchange the peace of the risen Christ with one another.The liturgical intention of this greeting is that we are enacting John 20, receiving from one another the peace that Christ gave to the disciples. We fill the room with the life of the Holy Spirit, breathing to one another the meaning of Christ’s death and resurrection, and remembering yet another way that Christ shows up with us and for us.