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New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Mary Austin
Dean Feldmeyer
Christopher Keating
Thomas Willadsen
George Reed
Quantisha Mason-Doll
Katy Stenta
Elena Delhagen
For March 31, 2024:

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Wayne Brouwer
When builders dug in modern Rome to secure the footings for a new parking garage, they uncovered an ancient cemetery. Construction stopped and archaeologists were called in to uncover and assess and preserve.

Hundreds of first-century graves were identified, most of them marked by simple stones, all etched with the same seven letters: N F F N S N C.
Mark Ellingsen
Frank Ramirez
Bonnie Bates
Bill Thomas
Acts 10:34-43
David Coffin
All of today’s texts have a gift for our spiritual journey on this day. At first glance, calling the current lived harsh experiences in these texts do not appear to be “gifts.” Good Friday is often the reality of spiritual growth before Easter.
Frank Ramirez
Bonnie Bates
Bill Thomas
Mark Ellingsen
Isaiah 52:13--53:12
Nothing is more compelling and compassionate than a willing sacrifice. I came across the true story of Gladys Kidd and her husband, Robert Lee Kidd. Robert Lee Kidd was convicted of first-degree murder in San Fransico on October 18, 1962. Kidd had been represented by an inexperienced public defender who mismanaged the case. He spent a year on death row in San Quentin, before the verdict was reversed by the California State Supreme Court and a new trial ordered. 
David Kalas
Perhaps your family, like mine, has certain traditional meals throughout the year.

We have, for example, a standard menu each Thanksgiving. We all know what will be served on that holiday together, and we all look forward to it. Of course, not every dish is each person’s favorite, but we would all be disappointed if anything was missing!

Similarly, we have some traditional things that we eat together on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. There's one particular meal that I request each year on my birthday. And so it goes, year after year.
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Mark Ellingsen
Bonnie Bates
Exodus 12:1-4 (5-10) 11-14

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: A big rock.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? It isn’t very long. (Let them respond.) Excellent!
John Jamison
Object: A big rock.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? I want to warn you that it is a sad story. (Let them respond.) Okay, let’s hear the story. It isn’t very long.
John Jamison
Object: A box about one foot tall, as wide and long as you want to use, and a cushion large enough for a child to lie down on. If you don't have a large cushion, you could use a blanket and fold it. You will also want one child as the volunteer to recline at the table.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! This is a pretty short story, so let me tell it to you and then we can talk about it.

StoryShare

Peter Andrew Smith
“Dad?” Susan flipped on a light in the living room. “What are you doing sitting here in the dark before sunrise?”

“I was just remembering when your Mother and I used to visit.” Henry smiled at her from his seat. “No matter how early we got up the kids were always awake and ready to do the Easter egg hunt.”

“You didn’t hide eggs, did you?” Susan looked quickly around the room. “I don’t think teenagers would bother looking for them.”

“I’m nostalgic but not forgetful. I remember you stopped wanting to do Easter egg hunts when you were about Jason’s age.”
John E. Sumwalt
For this is reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does. (v. 6)

I had a Sunday school teacher when I was in sixth grade who liked to tell the story of a young man in our community who was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was known as a troublemaker, a “rebel without a cause,” angry teenager who loved to put on his leather jacket, jump on his Harley and make as much noise as possible as he rode down the road.
Frank Ramirez
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you…. (v. 23)

The gospel hymn Will the Circle Be Unbroken? is such a catchy song that you can hardly mention the title without folks humming it, often unconsciously. It’s a sacred earworm! Indeed, maybe we ought to sing the chorus right now, before I continue

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, Lord, by and by.
There’s a better world awaiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky.

SermonStudio

John Jamison
All of the plans and preparation had been completed and they were all gathering together in the room. As they entered, they each paused to look at the long, horseshoe-shaped table with the cushions spread out around the outside, and could not help but show a brief smile. Even with everything that had happened and with the risks they faced out in the streets, the sight of that table and cushions took all of that away for a few seconds.
Stan Purdum
(Occurs in all three cycles of the lectionary; see Cycle A for an alternative approach; see also Easter 3, Cycle A, for an alternative approach to vv. 1-4 and 12-19.)

This is a thanksgiving psalm. It both celebrates God's answer to the psalmist's prayers for help (vv. 1-2) and declares the psalmist's intention to go to the temple and "return to the Lord" those things the psalmist had promised while praying the prayers (vv. 12-14).

Richard A. Jensen
We stand here at the climactic passage in Mark's Gospel. We should not be surprised to find that many of the stories from the earlier parts of the Gospel talk to this story in significant ways. There is much of narrative analogy here! This Easter tale begins with the women. These women have names! Many women have appeared in Mark's Gospel.
Nancy Kraft
Have you ever been betrayed by one of your closest friends? After opening yourself up and becoming vulnerable to another person, to have them abuse the trust you placed in them and stab you in the back can cause more pain than if that person had beaten you to a pulp. If a person who claims to love you turns around and hurts you deeply, you probably do what most of us do in that situation -- you hurt them back.

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
The liturgy can start with a procession in which a child carries the Easter candle from the West end of the church to the altar at the East end, stopping at intervals to raise the candle high and cry, "Christ our Light". The people respond with "Alleluia!" All the candles in church are then lit from the Easter candle.

Call to Worship:

Let us praise the name of the Lord, for Christ our Lord is risen today! Hallelujah!

Special Occasion

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