Easter Vision

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“…the more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming.”

~Freeman John Dyson (1923-2020), theoretical physicist and mathematician

“If the experience of science teaches anything, it’s that the world is very strange and surprising. The many revolutions in science have certainly shown that.”

“[The] destinies of human beings and of the whole universe lie together in the world of God’s new creation…. In Christian thinking, the seed event from which this new creation has already begun to grow is the resurrection of Christ. His tomb was empty because the matter of his corpse had been transmuted into the ‘matter’ of the new creation, to become his risen and glorified body in which he appeared to the first witnesses.”

~John Polkinghorne (1930-2021), theoretical physicist and theologian

“For the sake of suffering humanity [Christ] came down from heaven to earth, clothed himself in that humanity in the Virgin’s womb, and was born a man. Having then a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen man upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt man’s destroyer, death, a fatal blow.”

~Melito of Sardis in his “Apology to Marcus Aurelius” (c. 169-170)

“Faith is not just a question of abstract knowledge…. I can’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God and was raised from the dead without it affecting my life. It isn’t just a question of ticking the boxes: it is a question of how you orient your whole existence.”

~John Polkinghorne (1930-2021), theoretical physicist and theologian

“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

~Julian of Norwich (c.1343-after 1416), medieval mystic

“Christians, at their best, are the fools who dare believe in God’s power to call dead things to life.”

~Esau MacCaulley, professor, author, opinion writer for the New York Times

SERMON PASSAGE

Galatians 1:1-5 & 6:14-15 (ESV)

Galatians 1

1 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Galatians 6

14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

Revelation 21

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

Isaiah 24

4 The earth mourns and withers;

  the world languishes and withers;

  the highest people of the earth languish.

5 The earth lies defiled

  under its inhabitants;

  for they have transgressed the laws,

  violated the statutes,

  broken the everlasting covenant.

6 Therefore a curse devours the earth,

  and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt…