Sermon time....

Not by me...lucky you since I've been told I preach too much Law.

Anyway, I was getting ready for church this morning thinking about last weekend when I was visiting J. His family has a strong faith, which is great and I totally respect that. His sister has a lot of crosses hanging in her house and J wears one on a chain.

All this is all good. A lot of Christianity centers around the cross. But as I was dressing this morning I started wondering why. Why just the cross? Yes, Jesus died for our sins and Thank God for that. But it was just the death that was important. I mean, Jesus was human so death was technically inevitable (if you believe anything in Genesis). So the cross was just a minor step. The key was the empty tomb and Jesus' resurrection. That's where the bigger promise lies, I think. It's not just that Jesus died, but that He Rose.

During Big O's sermon today he was talking about this very thing. The "a-ha" moment for him, when he truly understood Easter and the amazing gift God has given us, is when he realized it wasn't just Jesus dying on the cross, or Jesus rising from the dead, but the real kicker is that Jesus still lives. He's still alive.

And that is still evident, I think, in the two sacraments Lutherans believe: Baptism and Holy Communion. Jesus shows us that He is alive and the grace that is needed with physical elements: water, and bread and wine. Amazing. This gift of grace and love is free of charge - just a complete gift from God to us - all because he loves us.

Is it ever possible to love someone so unconditionally? As humans, probably not though we try. But God can. And God does. And because of that we celebrate God not only through Baptism, Holy Communion and the Cross - but also through the empty tomb and the remembrance that Jesus is alive. Amen to that.