Renew Your Mind

"But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared." Luke 24:1 The sun comes up , again, on a garden. This was where our journey began- in a perfect garden, where God walked in the evening breeze. So much has happened to the human beings that God created- their journey has taken them far away from that garden, and by Friday it seemed that they had put to death their only hope of walking in the garden again. But today, in a garden of tombs, God walks again. "But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping?' She said to them, 'They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.' When she said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did

"Something strange is happening- there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and has raised up all who have fallen asleep ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh, and he'll trmbles in fear. He has gone to search for our first parents, as for lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him victory. At th sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone, "My Lord be with you all!" Christ answered him, "And with your spirit." He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying "Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, an

Mid-afternoon Darkness drops Like a stone. Day, interrupted Hold your breath- Here God meets death. Son, separated From the Father. Torn apart From light, From love, From life. Journey's unexpected end..... It is finished.

Every year, for hundreds of years, Jews had prepared their Passover meal according to the instructions in the Old Testament. It reminded them who they were, it spoke of their suffering as slaves in Egypt, but most of all it reminded them of who God is. "Then came the day of the Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, 'Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.' " Luke 22: 7,8 This was to be the Last Passover, and also the First- we call it the Last Supper, but it was also the first Lord's Supper. This meal that Jesus shared with his disciples reminded them of who they were- yesterday we read Jesus' prayer for them. It spoke of suffering, even if the disciples didn't really understood that. And most of all, and the reason we continue to share this meal together, is that it reminded them who God is. "Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he bro

In the Upper Room, hours before his arrest and with the knowledge of what was to come weighing heavily upon him, Jesus speaks to His Father. He speaks private, passionate words but he does not speak them privately, as he has done in the past when he has withdrawn to spend time alone with his Father. These were spoken at the table, for the disciples to hear, and John records them in his gospel. Is he sharing with his closest friends a glimpse of what his suffering will make possible- a relationship with God as Father? "Father, the hour has come.... I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world,