Order, Words, & Voices
03.31.24, The Cross, Mark 16
Order
Pre Worship Music – Spotify – Open and Close
Welcome/Prayer/Introduction (No Slides) Rick
Video Easter Song Video
Participatory Reading and Lord’s Prayer Cricklins
Reading Isaiah/Duffy
Passage Mark 16:1-8 Mitch
Message Hope Rick
Benediction Linda
Community/Closing Peace Rick
Music This is the Day (Verse 1 & Chorus) Video
Post Worship Music – Spotify – Open and Close
Response(Slides) Cricklins (come to front as verses close video)
Leader: God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, to a virgin named Mary.
Response: The angel said to Mary, “Do not be afraid for you will bear a son and name him Jesus.”
Leader: As the Prophet said “The Lord will give us a sign, a young woman will be with child, she will bear a son, Immanuel.”
Response: God is with us.
Leader: A child was born for us, a son was given for us.
Response: The wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of peace.
Leader: Engaged to Joseph, but while Mary was still a virgin, she became pregnant from the Holy Spirit. An angel said to Joseph, “Don’t be afraid.”
Response: “His name will be ‘Jesus’, he will save us from our sins.”
Leader: He was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, in order to heal our bruises and make us whole.
Response: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Leader: He was oppressed and afflicted; like a lamb led to the slaughter.
Response: Like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so Jesus did not open his mouth.
Leader: Jesus asked God, ‘Why have you forsaken me?’
Response: Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’
Leader: Join us in the prayer of Jesus,
Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our trespasses, while we forgive those who trespass against us.
And, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Reading (no slides) Duffy/Isaiah (come to front as final line of prayer is said)
Isaiah: Six, maybe seven, hours is all it took for Jesus to die. For his followers who had showed up, it was an eternity. For the religious leaders eager to rid themselves of their Jesus problem the wait was excruciating. But, for those in the large crowd sitting on the ground around the cross watching Jesus die, it was a perfectly entertaining Friday afternoon.
Duffy: It was a strange site, crowds watching death. The cross, designed by vicious humans wanting revenge. Revenge on what they did not know, nor did they attempt to process or understand why this man who they had cheered five days earlier was now the victim of their hatred and vitriol.
Isaiah: And there, in the midst of the crowd, was the women that were disciples of Jesus. The male disciples were either watching from a safe distance or they had chosen to be as far away as possible – out of sight out of mind.
Duffy: But, there was an end to the spectacle. Jesus did die. He screamed out that it was all over. And then Jesus died. The religious leaders stuck around to make sure the body was taken down from the cross, and even to assure themselves that the cross was removed. No one needed to see this tool of death the next day, the holy day, the Sabbath. No one wanted to be reminded of this unfortunate incident, everyone just needed to forget. Now, with this ‘Jesus problem’ taken care of, everyone could get back to normal.
Isaiah: The politicians ordered that the body be taken down and the cross be removed. The spectators rounded up their families, the children finished their play, picnic baskets were packed up, and everyone went home before sundown. That was the religious thing to do.
Duffy: Everyone went home. Everyone closed their doors and windows because there was a stench in the air. Darkness had fallen, the ground itself had seemed to shake, and even those who seemed to be celebrating had an odd look of dread on their face.
Passage (Slides) Mitch (come to front at close of previous reading)
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint Jesus’ body.
As soon as the religious law allowed, early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, the women went to the tomb.
On the way to the tomb they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” This was a huge concern as the stone was large and heavy.
However, when they arrived and looked up, they saw that the stone had already been rolled back.
Without any obstacle to stop them they immediately approached the tomb where, instead of the body of Jesus, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and the women were alarmed.
But the man said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place where they laid him.”
“Now,” the man continued, “go, tell his disciples, and Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of all of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”
So the women went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Mark 16:1-8
Message Rick (No Slides)
[No Slide until next paragraph]
Women on way to do the usual act of taking care of the body of a friend who has passed, doing what their gut told them to do, what their ancestors had taught them to do, ‘honor the body. Concern about gaining access to the body with the expected stone blocking their way. Concern about more powerful scoffers as there had been when Mary attempted to anoint honor earlier before the arrest. This was just their next step. They waited as long as they had to and then, probably without much discussion except to share their concerns about their mission, still, they ran to the tomb. They go expecting barriers but they go anyway.
When they arrive there is no boulder but there is something unexpected…
[Slide] Something unexpected, The “Do not be alarmed;’ (birth caution as well)
[Slide] Clarification of purpose, “you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, right? The one who was crucified and buried in this tomb, correct?”
[Slide] Declaration of New Day Reality, “Well, He is no longer dead, He has been raised; he is not here.”
[Slide] Invitation to Confirm/Understand, “Go ahead, look inside, there is the place where they laid him.” [Hope – Radio station emotion]
[Slide – leave this slide up until next slide] Instruction to Get back on the path, “Now, go, tell his disciples, and Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of all of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”
- More recent manuscripts regarding vs 9 to end. Focus on 1-8;
- Allows us to notice ‘Tell Peter’
- We continue step by step through good and bad, victory and failures, gain and loss, health and sickness.
- Women run scared to talk but then cannot help but talk.
- What happens when just a seed of hope is present.
- Hope restores us to the path in front of us.
Poet Rich Mullins captured this back and forth of our lives with his word:
There is so much work left to do but so much I’d already done
Like Abraham, I am a stranger in a strange land
On this road to righteousness sometimes the climb can be so steep
I often falter in my steps but I am never beyond God’s reach
O God, You are my God and I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning and I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step-by-step You’ll lead me and I will follow You all of my days
[Slide] Apostle Paul speaking to Jesus’ followers in Corinth, a group of people much like us, he reminds them that, “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.”
Followers but often entitled, living in grace but seldom reflecting Jesus mercy and compassion, loved but self centered in the giving of love.
He informs them that they are dying, the natural death of being human. However, he also tells them that they carry the death of Jesus because that permits them to also carry the resurrection of Jesus, the life.
While our bodies are prone to die, life is still there, eternal life.
We can live the eternal life of Jesus even as our bodies are dying an earthly death.
[Slide] Paul echoes the prophet Isaish, “We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.” (II Cor. 4;8-10)
As the women went to sleep there was death, as they awake, once again there was life. Same problems, same pain, the same expectation of death, but now it is a new day, the tomb is still empty, the hope is still present. As the we go to sleep there is death, as we awake, once again there is life. Same problems, same pain, but now it is a new day, the tomb is still empty, the hope is still present.
[Stop screen share]
The resurrection is our hope. The resurrection is our affirmation of life. The hope that is Resurrection is our life.
Understanding death allows us to understand life
Understanding hopelessness allows us to see and understand hope
Hope returns us to God’s path for us
Closing Benediction (Slides each line) Linda
We leave here into a world that is dying aware that the tomb is empty.
We leave here ready for the seed of hope to restore us to God’s path.
We leave here with joy because even death does not reign over us or rule our lives.
We leave here because that is where our path leads.
We leave here because that is where hope, mercy, compassion, and love is most needed.
We leave here because it it our next continued step
Community (Slides) Rick
- Next Sunday, 04.07.24, 40 Days, Acts 1:1-17
- Coming – Pizza and games night, Lead-Duffy
Closing Peace (Slides) Rick
[Slide] Leader: May the peace of the Lord go with you.
[Slide] Response: And also with you.
Closing MusicVideo
Order, Words, & Voices 