Reflections
We show hospitality to strangers not merely because they need it, but because we need it, too. The stranger at the door is the living symbol and memory that we are all strangers here. This is not our house, our table, our food, our lodging; this is God’s house and table and food and lodging. We were pilgrims and wanderers, aliens and strangers, even enemies of God, but we, too, were welcomed into this place. To show hospitality to the stranger is, as Gordon Lathrop has observed, to say, “We are beggars here together. Grace will surprise us both.”
— Thomas G. Long
Beyond the Worship Wars: Building Vital and Faithful Worship
You say you love rain, but you use an umbrella to walk under it. You say you love sun, but you seek shelter when it is shining. You say you love wind, but when it comes you close your windows. So that’s why I’m scared when you say you love me.
— Bob Marley
- Loss precedes renewal
- Resurrection as a metaphor is not as strong as the actual resurrection
- As a metaphor it is only partially true, it is not as transformative
- Resurrection is path of transformation
- There is Grace in the moment of resurrection
- Grace in the Moment
- Grace in Jesus calling Mary (v15), just as He calls out to us
- Grace in the Mission, Jesus to ascend to the Father, left message for Mary to tell the disciples
- The stone at the tomb rolling out is not for Jesus to get out, but for us to get in
