Rolling Away Stones: Living the Resurrection Way

God is still in the business of rolling stones away, even yours. The stone that sealed that tomb, the stone that said, it's over, you're dead, the dream has died. That's the same kind of stone that you have with you, the stone of your grief, the stone of your shame, the stone of your diagnosis, or of your despair. And the word for this Easter Sunday, the proclamation echoed throughout the generations is that the stone has been rolled away, Not pushed aside a little, not cracked open to let just a little bit of light in, but the power that shook the earth, that tore the veil of the temple from the top down, that folded the grave clothes, that left the tomb empty, gloriously, impossibly, irreversibly empty. [00:55:22] (63 seconds)  #StonesRolledAway

How might you live differently tomorrow? How might you love the people in your life a little more fully? How much you go through this world if you truly believe that the resurrection power is alive and active in your life every day? What might be possible if the heaviest thing you've carried no longer is yours alone to bear? This this is the resurrection way. This is the invitation for people who live on the other side of Easter, the resurrection side of Easter. People who believe truly that death does not win, that the tomb does not have the final say, and that your stones are no match for a God who is in the business still of rolling the stones away. [00:58:42] (52 seconds)  #LiveResurrected

go as those who have heard their names spoken by the risen Christ. You came here carrying whatever stone you brought with you. Leave it here. The way is open, the tomb is empty, the story is not finished, it's barely begun. So go and tell what you have seen, go and live what you believe, and may the God who raised Jesus from the dead raise something in you this week that you had given up on. Go in peace, Go in resurrection. Go in joy. Amen. [01:04:08] (31 seconds)  #GoInResurrection

Not gone exactly, but but but transformed, redeemed. That's what resurrection does. It doesn't pretend that the tomb never happened. It doesn't pretend that the scars aren't still there on Jesus' feet and hands and side. No. Resurrection doesn't pretend that the difficult things in life aren't there, but it transforms them. It redeems them, it rolls them away and says that the wound does not get the final word. What would your life look like if that stone that you carried in was rolled away once and for all? [00:58:04] (38 seconds)  #WoundsRedeemed

So I have a bit of an invitation for you, a little something different. This Easter, I invite you simply to close your eyes if you feel comfortable. To close your eyes, and I want you to think about your stone. You know the one, the one that rose up in you the moment I mentioned it. The broken place, the diagnosis, the regret, whatever your stone represents today, and I want you to to feel the weight of it, really feel it, really feel it right now. And now, I invite you to imagine that stone rolled away. Not minimized, not managed, not medicated, not numbed, not white knuckled, gone. Can you imagine it? [00:57:03] (58 seconds)  #ReleaseYourStone

Every person has carried something heavy, some burden here today, maybe it's a loss or a grief or a diagnosis, Maybe it's a dream that didn't survive or a version of yourself that you'll never get back. Some of you some of you've been carrying this stone for years, and you've forgotten what it would feel like to set it down, you don't even know. And then came Sunday. Now, here's the theological truth, the thing that really matters about Easter Sunday. The same God who rolled that stone away that very first Easter Sunday didn't just roll one stone away. [00:54:35] (46 seconds)  #StonesRolledForAll

And the invitation was to let that stone represent some burden, some weight that they were ready to let go of and place underneath the cross of Christ during the Lenten season. Now, whether you were worshiping with us every Sunday during Lent or this is the very first time through these doors and the first time hearing about this Karen, it's all the same. Every person here has carried a stone in this sanctuary. Maybe not in your hands, maybe not in your pocket, but in your chest, the back of your mind, and the recesses, places you don't often want to go. [00:53:51] (43 seconds)  #PlaceYourStone

This week, one of the kids in our church came to me and said, pastor Rhonda, why do they call Good Friday good? That's a reasonable question. Right? We know what happened on Good Friday. It doesn't seem that good, does it? I didn't give the official theological answer. You know how words change meaning over time, and the original word was in the Latin, and it meant holy, it was a word that meant good, but it meant holy, and so we've just kept the good, and it really kind of means holy Friday, which makes a little more sense, doesn't it? [00:48:58] (38 seconds)  #GoodMeansHoly