The Easter Story Continues

Just for fun, here's a link to the whole Chicken Lickin' Dog story. The storyteller in this video is not the friend of my parents that I referenced, but she does a pretty good crying dog!

Now to some more serious stuff. Below, from the Common English Bible, is the shorter and then longer endings of Mark.

[⁹ They promptly reported all of the young man’s instructions to those who were with Peter. Afterward, through the work of his disciples, Jesus sent out, from the east to the west, the sacred and undying message of eternal salvation. Amen. ]

You can hear in this passage echoes of the Great Commission from Matthew 28. It's a post-resurrection explanation of how Christianity spread throughout the known world.


[[⁹ After Jesus rose up early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. ¹⁰ She went and reported to the ones who had been with him, who were mourning and weeping. ¹¹ But even after they heard the news, they didn’t believe that Jesus was alive and that Mary had seen him.
¹² After that he appeared in a different form to two of them who were walking along in the countryside. ¹³ When they returned, they reported it to the others, but they didn’t believe them. ¹⁴ Finally he appeared to the eleven while they were eating. Jesus criticized their unbelief and stubbornness because they didn’t believe those who saw him after he was raised up. ¹⁵ He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to every creature. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever doesn’t believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ These signs will be associated with those who believe: they will throw out demons in my name. They will speak in new languages. ¹⁸ They will pick up snakes with their hands. If they drink anything poisonous, it will not hurt them. They will place their hands on the sick, and they will get well.”
¹⁹ After the Lord Jesus spoke to them, he was lifted up into heaven and sat down on the right side of God. ²⁰ But they went out and proclaimed the message everywhere. The Lord worked with them, confirming the word by the signs associated with them.]]

Here in the longer ending we see allusions to other stories from Matthew, Luke, and John. The doubt in verse 11 parallels the doubt in Luke 24:11. Mark 16:12 parallels Luke 24:13-34, the story of the journey to Emmaus. Verse 14 parallels John's story of the disciples gathered together in the Upper Room. 15-1 again parallels the Great Commission. 17-18 could be a  reference to Acts 28:4-5, which was written by the same author as Luke's Gospel. Finally Mark 16:19-20 parallels Jesus' ascension, which is told briefly at the end of Matthew and more fully in Acts 1.
 

Cleansing the Temple

Our challenge question today was "What clutter do you need to remove from your life to renew your relationship with God?" Just like we sometimes need to clean up the house, we also need to clean up our hearts. Lent is the perfect time to do just that.

As a church, rewriting our Mission Statement was one way of remembering how important our relationship with God is. Here's a sneak peak of language that will go on our website later this week about the mission statement: 

The mission of St. Paul’s UMC is to LOVE God and all others unconditionally, SEEK answers to our questions, and SERVE God by serving others.

This is not a mission focused on a task to be completed. It is focused on a culture that we hope to live out. We believe that as we live out this mission we begin to see the Kingdom of God break out among us. So how do we live out the mission?

LOVE – As reflected in our Welcome Statement, Love, hospitality, and welcome are primary virtues that we believe in. We affirm the Scriptural witness that Love is central to God’s identity (1 John 4:16) and to how God calls us to live (Matthew 22:38-40). We like to talk about Sundays at St. Paul’s as a family reunion. We are a large enough church that we don’t all know each other by face or name, but we do know that we all belong. When you come to St. Paul’s you become part of the family. You will be nurtured and supported in good times and bad times.

SEEK – If you have questions about faith and life then this may be the church for you. If you already have all the answers it probably isn’t the right place for you. We see ourselves as seekers on a journey. Christianity is more about the journey than the destination. So we seek! You’ll find this true in our adult Sunday School classes and evening small groups that ask questions not only about the Bible but also about current world events and faithful living in a changing world. You’ll also find this in Sunday morning worship. We don’t just ask what the Bible meant 2,000 years ago. We explore what it means for life today. Sometimes we come away with new insights, sometimes we come away with even more questions. In either case we know that our opinions are respected and that we are welcome to continue on the journey together!

SERVE – You will find St. Paul’s members all over Kansas City serving God by serving others. We regularly participate in serving meals, collecting food and other donations, working on Habitat for Humanity houses, giving blood, and helping the homeless. You will also find us outside of Kansas City on mission trips (generally 4 a year including 2 youth trips and 1 international trip).Those are just some of the ministries that we sponsor. We also encourage our members to serve on their own. We understand that God uses many tools to change the world. We are just one of them.

Practicing Patience

As I was preparing this week's message on the discipline of patience I had to learn patience myself! I started in an entirely different direction and ended up reworking and reworking all the way up until 8:00 Sunday morning. Part of my problem was that I kept rushing to the Easter story. But then I wouldn't be practicing the patience I was preaching about!

If you're at a time in life where patience is hard, you might look at this video. It's not about patience, it's about Good Friday and Easter. It's a good reminder, though, that in all of our trials and tribulations something better is on the way.

If you'd like to see a longer version of the Marshmallow Test video look here. And here's the link to the Wikipedia entry on the test.

If you weren't in worship, you can find the audio online here. And a reminder of this week's question: "Just as Jesus showed us patience and discipline in waiting, we should try to be more patient as well. In what part of life must you learn to be more patient?"