When I was a kid I loved to watch cowboy shows. I would ride my stick horse around the back yard with my bandana. Who would have believed that I would be a trendsetter for 2020.
Now, 63 years later after taping my sermon at the church on Saturday I went to Kroger looking like this.
I was headed for the blueberries and I heard someone say, “Hi Pastor!” I turned and it was Janet and Ken. I said, “How did you recognize me? She said she recognized my “Shout for Joy” cross.
Ken had made his mask out of a coffee filter.
In these days of living behind masks we have an opportunity to learn more about ourselves and each other. Without the distractions of sports and movies and concerts and dining out and even gathering for worship we have more time to think and pray and dig deeper into who we really are and what really matters most—what really is essential.
We will not be able to gather to worship this Sunday. We’ll be behind closed doors. If you think about it though, we will be more like Jesus’ disciples this Sunday we call Easter than any other.
John 20:19 says, “On that evening of the first day of the week the disciples were together with the doors locked for fear…” Those who first heard the good news from the women who went to the tomb were not in a house of worship. They were sequestered in a home.
This year as we remember the empty tomb we will do so with an empty sanctuary. We will be in our homes, but not for fear. We will be in our homes out of respect and love for the rest of our human family. We may be behind doors to protect ourselves and those we love and those we may never meet from an unseen threat, but we will not do so out of fear. The sting of death has been stolen and the grave has been robbed of its victory when who Jesus was and is was finally and dramatically and triumphantly revealed…
Joyful Life Lutheran Church 