January 30, 2023
Bill Moore ’69
Pastor (Retired)
Some years ago, the Saturday Evening Post ran a cartoon showing a man about to be rescued after he had spent a long time shipwrecked on a tiny deserted island in the South Pacific. The sailor in charge of the rescue team stepped onto the beach and handed the man a stack of newspapers. “Compliments of the captain,” he said. “He would like you to glance at the headlines to see if you’d still like to be rescued!”
Sometimes, the headlines do scare us. Sometimes it feels like dark forces are winning. But, at the center of our faith, there is the reality of the Resurrection to remind us that there is no grave deep enough, no seal imposing enough, no stone heavy enough, no evil strong enough to keep Christ in the grave. The women ran from the empty tomb to share the astounding news that Jesus was alive. Today, we have the opportunity to share the same Good News: Goodness will win! Truth will win! Love will win! God will ultimately win and he wants to share his victory with us.
It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s! Romans 8:11 The Message