Friday, August 10, 2012

EMMDEV 2012-08-10 [Forty Days of Resurrection] 40.NOT here!

"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene,
who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where
they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, `He is going
ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'
" Mark16:6-7

"He is not here."
Not in the darkened cave-tomb in the garden.
He is also not in the dried out regulations of legalistic religion.
... not in the calcified institutes of ritual and tradition.
... not in the age old power struggles of institutionalised faith.
... not in cold and dark of past hurts
... not in the sad memorials of pain and brutality

He is RISEN!
Victorious and glorious over the pain, sorrow, injustice and formalised
religiosity.

He is ALIVE.
And He goes ahead of us.

So it is our task to "go, tell..."!
It is our privilege to discover that wherever we go - He is ahead of us
and the joy, power and peace of His resurrected life is ours.
We are alive in Him and we have life in His name.

So now, it is your turn - "GO, tell the world that your Saviour is ALIVE!"
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This brings us to the end of "40 days of Resurrection." It has taken
much longer than 40 days to get these devotions written, but now they
will be available to download and print as a booklet and used after
Easter in future years.

As such, this little booklet is dedicated to all who have joyfully
affirmed the wonderful truth of Resurrection in the midst of criticism
and resistance.

My soul has been renewed and restored by this period of reflection on
this one single truth with its many facets. It's my prayer that you too
have been inspired and enthralled by this central truth which is so
powerfully summarised by Matt Maher:

Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave!
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IExdrZGQVeI