04/08/2018
1 John 1:1-2:2
Chris Breslin
“The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die…What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store for it…What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether. They are part of what we may call building for God’s kingdom.” –N.T. Wright
“Worship is the arena in which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and rehabituates our loves. Worship isn’t just something we do; it is where God does something to us. Worship is the heart of discipleship because it is the gymnasium in which God retrains our hearts.” –James K.A. Smith
“So here is the great truth at the heart of Christian faith – resurrection. Stake your life on it, struggle with it, and everything will change. Die, turn, see … and then live in this mystical body, which is the blessed company of all faithful people walk with you on this great adventure of the Christian life of redemption, joy and fulfilment, and which will hold you in all your frailty and glory, unto your life’s end. For Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia. Amen.” –Sarah Coakley (ABC article: Meaning Beyond Meaning: Meditations on the Death and Resurrection of Jesus)
Scripture:
John 2:1-11, John 4:46-54, John 5:1-15, John 6:5-14, John 6:16-21, John 9:1-7, John 11:17-44 (Signs of Salvation series)
Songs for Today’s Worship Gathering:
Because He Lives (Amen) by Tomlin/Carson/Maher/et al
Come, People of the Risen King by Townend/Gettys
10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) by Redman/Myrin
Be Thou My Vision by Forgaill
Steadfast by McCracken/Jordan/Silverberg
Come to the Table by Glover/McDonald/Frey
Doxology
Easter Reading:
Reading Scripture in Light of the Resurrection (chapter in the Art of Reading Scripture) by Richard B Hays (and Ellen F. Davis)
Can These Bones Live?: A Theology in Outline by Robert Jenson
Miracles by C.S. Lewis
Prototype by Jonathan Martin
Resurrection & Moral Order by Oliver O’Donovan
Living the Resurrection by Eugene Peterson
Practice Resurrection by Eugene Peterson
Resurrection and the Son of God by N.T. Wright (academic)
Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright (accessible)
