SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2019

8:30 and 10:00 A.M. Services

10:00 A.M. Sunday School

Please Join us on Sunday, April 28, 2019

at 8:30 and 10:00 A.M.

Dr. Trench will Preach

“Just As He Told You”

Mark reports that after the Sabbath was over, when the women went to the tomb, they encountered a messenger who told them that Jesus was risen, “just as he told you.” And, the messenger explained, “he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” In other words, Jesus was going home. It is so ordinary. Why not go to the temple or some other holy place? But it is precisely in the ordinary and everyday events of life that Jesus promises to meet his disciples. Please read Mark 16:1-8

He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: "Follow thou me!" and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands, and to those who obey Him, (whether they be wise or simple) He will reveal Himself in the toil, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

At Easter we are reminded that Jesus still comes to us “as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those who knew Him not.” At the shoreline we will stand in the midst of all possibility and listen again for the voice of the Teacher calling, “Follow me.” And we will remember that it is only when we follow him that his presence is revealed and only in His fellowship that we experience Who He is. In our traditional prayer for All Saints Sunday, we speak of “memories of loved ones who are no more.” We remind ourselves of the happiness we shared and the joy of loving and being loved. We mourn that “the place where once they stood is empty now.” But then we affirm that “the links of love and longing cannot break.” Paul is convinced that love never ends. It is love which binds us together forever. For Paul, this is the promise of Easter. As you prepare yourself for worship this morning, please take a moment to live into the word by reading the passage from Paul’s Second Letter to the Church in Corinth printed on the left side of this page. This is the heart and soul of Paul’s theology. The great theologian Paul Tillich argued that Paul’s theology could be summed up in a single verse: “When anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Another translation says that when anyone is in Christ there is a whole new world. Of course, this was Paul’s personal experience. Everything changed. He was a new person in a new world. What does this promise of new life mean for modern Christians? Whether you are worshiping with us for the first time or the thousandth time, we want you to feel at home and know that you belong. If you are passing through, we hope that our worship this morning will provide you with food for the journey.

Rev. Dr. William C. Trench, Senior Pastor

Carol L. Reale, Pastor of Christian Education and Family Ministry