Sermons

Raised With Christ

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above…” (Colossians 3.1) “Practice resurrection.” (Wendell Berry) Easter has always been perplexing to me. As far as the liturgical seasons go, I find it the most difficult to apply. Advent is about waiting for God – that makes sense. Christmas is a celebration that God comes to us – love that. Epiphany is identifying with Jesus’ life and teachings – even if I don’t do it well, I get the concept. In Lent we think about the nature of sin and the need for the Cross – this is the focus of a lot of what we do in church. Pentecost is about the ongoing work of the church and the Spirit’s power to enable us to do it – yep. But Easter… We know it’s about the resurrection of Jesus – so we can reflect on the past. And we can hope in the future – because he was raised, so will we be. But the apostle Paul says it’s more than that. Right now we are “raised with Christ.” That is, resurrection life is supposed to be changing and transforming everything about us TODAY.