{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Easter - 4\/5\/26","description":"Year A \u2013 Easter Sunday \u2013 April 5, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Acts 10:34-43 Colossians 3:1-4 Matthew 28:1-10 Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, our Savior. Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! *** This past Holy Week has been\u2026 really something special. Last week, on Palm Sunday, many of us here participated in the Palm Sunday March in Lansing. We were surrounded by a crowd of about 800 people from various denominations, who came together to march with palms in hand, bound by our shared commitment to the foundational teachings of Jesus. We marched to share our commitment to love our neighbors\u2026 to feed the hungry, clothe the naked\u2026 to care for the sick, and the poor\u2026 and those who are outcast\u2026 and to welcome the stranger. And our group here in Michigan was part of a larger movement across at least sixteen other states\u2026 thousands and thousands of Christians showed up\u2026 disciples of Jesus\u2026 marching to proclaim the saving words and promise of Christ. Jesus Christ is not dead and gone\u2026 he is alive! And then on Thursday, I had the profound honor to care for you by washing and anointing your feet\u2026 and by allowing my own feet to be washed and anointed. We do this because Christ did this for his disciples\u2026 and told us to continue the practice, and so trusting in the words of our teacher, we wash\u2026 There\u2019s a closeness there, in that simple and ancient practice, that just cannot be replicated any other way\u2026 and when sharing this practice, Jesus is profoundly close. And then we shared our meal of Holy Communion together\u2026 and yes, we do that every week in remembrance of Christ\u2026 but on Maundy Thursday, we recall why we celebrate this meal\u2026 and we recall together the grace, love, and inclusion that Jesus demonstrated for all, even those who would later betray and deny him. And so, we share our meal with all who are gathered\u2026 more than just trusting and hoping that Christ will show up\u2026 we expect our Christ to show up. Jesus Christ is not dead and gone\u2026 he is alive! And then on Friday\u2026 on Good Friday\u2026 we gathered with our siblings from All Saints Lutheran and St Paul Lutheran, and with our bishop\u2026 we gathered together as one community\u2026 to remember and honor Christ\u2019s death on the cross. Even as we acknowledge that Christ is with us, always, we know that we cannot get to the Resurrection without going through death and the cross\u2026 and so we gathered \u2026as one body\u2026 and honored the presence of Christ that was there with us\u2026 and in each of us\u2026 it was, so very holy\u2026 and special. And still we proclaim\u2026 Jesus Christ is not dead and gone\u2026 he is alive! Jesus Christ is risen today! Alleluia!! Alleluia!! I came here today\u2026 knowing that I would meet Christ\u2026 I expect him to show up because Christ promised to show up\u2026 and I know Christ lives in you\u2026 and in me\u2026 and so wherever we gather\u2026 Christ is there\u2026 alive\u2026 and with us. That expectation of meeting Jesus everywhere we go\u2026 that\u2019s what it means to follow Jesus\u2026 to follow our God who became human\u2026 who defeated death and the grave\u2026 That\u2019s what it means to follow a crucified and risen Lord\u2026 it means that we show up in the world expecting to meet Christ there. We expect to meet Jesus\u2026 because we trust the Word of our God\u2026 we trust\u2026 and we dare to hope. Just like Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, who showed up at the tomb on the third day\u2026 I believe they showed up expecting to meet Jesus! \u2026or at least, daring to hope they would. Now, I know that in the gospels of Mark and Luke, they write that the women showed up at the tomb with spices to anoint his body. But not in Matthew\u2026 The Marys have been disciples of Jesus all along, following him and hearing his teaching\u2026 hearing him proclaim that he must die, but would rise again on the third day. And all four gospels record that Jesus was anointed for his burial before he was crucified. The women did not desert him or betray him\u2026 they stayed near\u2026 and watched. They felt the earth shake at the moment he died and heard the Roman Centurion proclaim that, truly, this man was the Son of God. The Marys stayed\u2026 and on the third day\u2026 they came to the tomb\u2026 not carrying spices for anointing\u2026 but coming with fear\u2026 and outrageous hope\u2026 that death did not win. They came\u2026 at the dawning of that new day\u2026 expecting to meet their risen Lord! And the earth shook for the second time in three days as the stone was thunderously rolled aside\u2026 and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven to meet them. The Roman guards fainted with terror, but the women stood strong, and they witnessed with awe and wonder that the tomb was empty. They stood strong because they expected something wonderful\u2026 Jesus Christ is not dead and gone\u2026 he is alive! The angel sent them on to meet Jesus, and they go with great fear and joy\u2026 but Jesus doesn\u2019t wait\u2026 he finds them and greets them with love\u2026 and they worship him\u2026 and bless his resurrected body. And then, full of grace and forgiveness, Jesus instructs the women to gather those who deserted him\u2026 gather together those who fled\u2026 so he can be reunited with them\u2026 to remind them of his love\u2026 and to mercifully commission them to witness to his resurrection. For the dawn from on high has broken upon us, and a new day has begun. Alleluia!! Alleluia!! But Easter morning\u2026 is only the beginning. Just as those first disciples had to decide, we, too, must decide who we are now\u2026 and who we must become\u2026 in the light of the risen Christ? But do not be afraid\u2026 Easter faith does not mean perfect faith\u2026 not for the first disciples, and not for us \u2026our faith is almost always a mixture of trust and doubt\u2026 of belief and unbelief. Jesus knows\u2026 this is what we have\u2026 an imperfect faith\u2026 and yet, he still calls us to be with him\u2026 and to celebrate with him\u2026 on this new day. And if we dare to hope in the promise of the resurrection\u2026 then we can show up, expecting Christ to meet us\u2026 trusting that God\u2019s grace precedes us wherever we go. We can rest in the promise that Christ not only lives in you and me\u2026 but Christ also lives in the stranger whom we welcome\u2026 in the sick whom we minister to\u2026 in the hungry whom we feed\u2026 in the naked whom we clothe. We expect Christ to meet us\u2026 and we rejoice in his presence. If we dare to hope in the promise of the resurrection, then we can draw on the strength of Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, and resist the powers of this world that would pull us toward greed and violence\u2026 toward bigotry and corruption. If we dare to hope in the promise of the resurrection, then we expect Christ to be here, and we can shape our lives around Christ\u2019s way of enduring love\u2026 and grace\u2026 and mercy. Because Easter is not an event that we remember and celebrate only once a year. Easter is a way of living\u2026 it\u2019s a way of loving\u2026 a way of shaping our communities in such a way that don\u2019t bend to the wills of the powerful\u2026 to the wills of greed and Empire\u2026 But instead\u2026 Easter is a way of living that glorifies God through loving the least among us, as Christ loved us\u2026 and knowing that there is nothing in the world stronger than God\u2019s love. Yes, we are Easter people. We are children of God who dare to hope in the promise of the resurrection, and we expect to meet our living Christ wherever we go, and in all whom we meet. For Jesus Christ is not dead and gone\u2026 he is alive! Alleluia!! Alleluia!!   ","author_name":"Your Faith Journey","author_url":"http:\/\/faithlutheran.libsyn.com\/podcast","html":"