Meditation: "If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching, but whether or not he rose from the dead." - Timothy Keller
Resurrection Sunday Sermon: 'The Curse Reversed'
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Saturday of Holy Week. Jesus is in the tomb. Not a word about this day in Scripture. Yet. . . A few minutes with 2 Peter 3:8-9, 11-12. God is typically up to quite a bit, even when we think he's forgotten all about us.
Today's Music: Caedmon's Call, 'Valleys Fill First'.
One of the very few songs I've ever heard that reference holy Saturday, Aaron Tate and Ed Cash recognize that when we're waiting for an answer that never seems to come, we're laid low - we're humiliated. There's a great book of Puritan prayers called 'THE VALLEY OF VISION.' The idea is, when we're completely exhausted of our strength, hope, or resources, we're far more likely to catch the vision of God's strength and sufficiency. If you're in that place, (and I think many of us are in this pandemic), let this day remind you that God's ways are different from our ways - they're better! (Isaiah 55:8-13)
'By his wounds we are healed.' (Isaiah 53:5) Jesus taking on our sin is the glorious, mysterious grace of God on Good Friday. Artists and composers have sought to portray the significance and power of this for centuries.
Latin lyrics and translation: O Crux, splendidior cunctis astris, mundo celebris, hominibus multum amabilis, sanctior universis; que sola fuisti digna portare talentum mundi: dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dulcia ferens pondera salva presentem catervam, in tuis hodie laudibus congregatam.
O Cross, more radiant than all the stars, honoured throughout the world, beloved of the people, holier than all things, which alone was found worthy to bear the light of the world: blessed wood, blessed nails, blest the weight you bore: save your flock assembled here to praise you. (Venantius Fortunas 530-606 AD)
