“The Gospel without the Resurrection is not merely a Gospel without its final chapter; it is no gospel at all.”
— Michael Ramsey , quoted by Philip Graham Ryken in Luke (Vol 2), (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2009), 648
Tag Archive - Resurrection
Curious about Lent and Holy Week?
According to the church calendar, as of March 9, 2011, we have entered into the season of Lent which leads to one of the most anticipated and celebrated holidays of Christians around the world – that of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, also known as Easter.
Are you curious about what these holidays are about? Maybe you’ve heard of them, but wonder how some of this related to the expression of evangelical and protestant faith. Maybe you’re a worship leader/pastor, and wondering how you can incorporate some of these things into the worship life of the church you serve.
Well, in order to provide a resource for you, and partially because of the season of transition I’m in I won’t be heavily involved in planning special times together this year, I’ve collected a number of links that I hope will be helpful. I know they have been so to me.
(This appear in no particular order of anything…)
What Every Christian Should Know about Ash Wednesday
Holy Days: Ash Wednesday and Lent
This article has lots of background information and practical suggestions.
TeamBuilder: Instrumental Worship and Lent
An example of a Good Friday Community Service
Additionally, the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship website offers a number of examples of Ash Wednesday service orders. Head to their resource page, and type “Ash Wednesday” in the search box.
Lent 2009
A candid and personal discussion about the application of the Lent season.
The OpenSourcebook site offers a number of readings and adaptable service ideas appropriate for the various parts of the season:
Ash Wednesday
Lent
Holy Week
Palm Sunday
Good Friday
Easter Sunday
Here are a few posts I’ve done:
Exploring the Journey of Lent
Why Good Friday, Part 1
Why Good Friday, Part 2
Good Friday Service Ideas
Or maybe you would prefer a ink and paper book. I recommend the following two books, which cover the entire Christian year:
Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross
Ancient Future Time by Robert Webber
Finally, if you’re involved with worship planning, this is worth reading:
Easter Planning – Things I’d Do Differently
Let me know of other links that should be a part of the list, and I will be sure to add them.
Worshiping Together: 4/4/10
As we gathered on this morning in culmination of a week of remembering, reflecting, and celebrating, we again took time to praise the Lord for His mightiness. After walking through the events of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the vigil of Easter Saturday, it was good to be able to gather and celebrate something that is worth celebrating every single week – the resurrection of Jesus Christ who defeated death, sin, and the grave.
This morning was a part of our ongoing series “Do You Believe?” as we again looking at the truth of the resurrection of Jesus through some of the encounters in John 20 and asked if people believed.
For the full service experience, click for more. Continue Reading…
[QOTW] Resurrection & Redemption
“In God’s mighty act of raising Jesus bodily from the grave we are right to glimpse the final chapter of the drama of redemption. Indeed, an understanding of redemption that fails to take its moorings from Christ’s victory over sin and death via bodily resurrection, and the promise of ultimate restoration of all things declared by the empty tomb, is not a biblical understanding of redemption at all.”
- Michael D. Williams, Far as the Curse is Found (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2005), 12.
Worshiping Together: 2/28/10
We began a new series this week that will take us through Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter. The series, called “Do You Believe?” is designed to help us again consider the claims Christ made about Himself and the evidence that proves those claims. In hearing the truth about Christ, we have to occasionally stop and ask ourselves, do we believe? Because if we believe, it will affect how we live, what we think, and what we do.
For the people who walked with Jesus during the final weeks of His earthly life, they discovered some amazing things about Him as He spoke and demonstrated God’s glory. Those same things can be as significant for us today. In this first week, we looked at the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11 and His declaration that He is the resurrection and the life. Continue Reading…
Exploring the Journey of Lent
It’s been said that our life betrays what we believe. Or that our beliefs are betrayed by our life. Either way, most, if not all, Christians say that Christ is the most important thing to them, but their living says they are more concerned with life, work, status, homes, cars, retirement plans, etc. Most aspects of life reflect a forgetting of our Maker, Redeemer, and Savior. I’m not here to tell you how a life that has Christ as the most important thing will be played out in you specifically, but to simply cause you to think.
This aspect of drift and forgetting is a common occurrence in all of our lives. The issue isn’t so much if it has happened (because it will at some point), but recognizing it and making appropriate course corrections.
The season of Lent, at its core, calls us back to God, back to basics, and back to the spiritual realities of life in Christ. Back to the things that we say we believe in. It’s a time when we can ask Christ to once again put to death sin and indifference toward God and others so that we might fulfill the Greatest Commandment to love the Lord our God with all of who we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We can once again enter fully into the joy of the Lord Who is our strength. Continue Reading…
Sunday Setlist: 4/12/09
When someone is in their final days, those who are close to the person often lean and listen hard to their final words. As Jesus hung on the cross, the Scriptures record Him saying seven final phrases that those who were gathered near Him listened to and recorded. What do they mean for us today, and why should we still listen to them?
This was the final week of the “Final Words” series, as well as Easter. As we gathered we looked at the final phrases of Jesus from the cross (John 19:30 and Luke 23:46) as He declared that it was DONE. It was a great day together celebrating, remembering, and proclaiming the sufficiency of Christ’s work on the cross and the transforming power of that work. Continue Reading…
