During our weekly communion service in the Chapel, the following passage from 1 Corinthians 15:3-11 was read to prepare us to receive the sacrament:
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
Paul is sharing with the church at Corinth his testimony to God’s powerful work in his life and in the world. He is passing on the Good News that he has received, that Christ died for our sins and was raised for us. That Jesus really did die and really was raised from the dead!
That, friends, is grace! God’s love poured out for us and to us through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. This grace is so powerful that it can transform a persecutor into an Apostle, a sinner into a saint, a broken person into a son or daughter of God. Through this grace, God has broken the shackles of sin and death that have held us and we are invited to experience resurrection life, abundant life, life that truly is life in him.
It’s this grace, this love, poured out that we come to celebrate this Sunday! Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell the world what God has done for us. Invite them to join us as we celebrate God’s unconquerable and unending love that has reconciled us to Himself.
Join us for our sunrise service with communion at 7 am, 9 am for modern worship, and 11 am for traditional worship. Let’s celebrate the resurrection together!
God bless,
Jonathan Smith
For Jesus. For People. For Community.