Three Women (Pastor's notes)

-

Pastor's notes for the 7 April 2013 bulletin
I was doing early preparation for my Mothers Day sermon this week and came across this devotion. Thought it too good to wait till Mothers Day to share as once again during this week's prayer meeting, some of us were reminded with thankful hearts of the many at KCC who serve behind the scenes.  
Three Women
by Jim L Wilson  Fresh Start Devotionals. (2009)
Every Easter I think about a sermon I heard my Dad preach when I was just a boy based upon the resurrection narrative in the gospel of Mark. In the sermon, he emphasized that the extraordinary events of life are usually enjoyed by those who are willing to give themselves to the ordinary tasks of devotion.
The three ladies, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Salome came to Jesus’ tomb early on Sunday morning to anoint Jesus’ remains with spices. Jewish law prohibited them from performing these tasks immediately after his death, because of the prohibition against working on the Sabbath, so they delayed going to the tomb until the Sabbath was over.
Where were his disciples? We know John was at the crucifixion, but we don’t know where the others were. Why wouldn’t those who were the closest to Him, and who would take the reigns of the church after His ascension, be there to take care of this unpleasant task? Why would they leave it to these women?
Even if the duty was beneath their stature, shouldn’t the men have come to roll the stone away so the women could fulfill their obligation? What if there was a confrontation with the guards? Wouldn’t three women be a mismatch for the highly trained Roman guards?
These three women are prototypes of Christian service. No, they weren’t leaders, they were servants. They were get-it-done people with a whatever-it-takes attitude.
Like the people who type our letters, watch our nursery and clean our buildings. They are no nonsense servants of the Lord.
The result of their work is greater than the sum of their labor. Because they were faithful to be in the right place in the right time, they were the first to hear of Christ’s resurrection and the first to bring the good news to others. But before they did, they saw Him, face to face.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Forgiving the Church (Henri Nouwen)

-
Had to post this up! Another gem from Henri Nouwen that is so relevant for today! I have highlighted in red what especially resonates with me as it has bothered me for years that there is a fast growing number of Christians who think they can have Christ without the church. Then back to work. I have finalized my magic routine fro this Sunday - now just need to practice and coordinate with "the Weeman" so our acts flow smoothly from one to the other. Forgiving the Church When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ. When we say, "I love Jesus, but I hate the Church," we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organization needs our forgiven...
Read more

The Ideal / Perfect pastor

-
Image
The Ideal / Perfect Pastor .... from various sources :-) I had better not add my own lest it be misunderstood. LOL The Perfect Pastor The perfect pastor preaches exactly 10 minutes. He condemns sin roundly but never hurts anyone’s feelings. He works from 8am until midnight and is also the church janitor. The perfect pastor makes $40 a week, wears good clothes, drives a good car, buys good books, and donates $30 a week to the church. He is 29 years old and has 40 years experience. Above all, he is handsome. The perfect pastor has a burning desire to work with teenagers, and he spends most of his time with the senior citizens. He smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his church. He makes 15 home visits a day and is always in his office to be handy when needed. The perfect pastor always has time for church council and all of its committees. He never misses the meeting of any church organizat...
Read more

Geoffrey Woo Ramblings

-
Image
It was nice to reconnect with Geoffrey via Facebook (Yes FB has it's positives) earlier this year. I first met him more than 25 years ago! And I got to know him and his heart when we served together in a special SU Camp. That was the year too I first got to know my good friend Allan Yong. Allan Yong became an inspiration for me (a good role model of a man of God on fire for God ... and he still is) especially in the area of youth work (but that is another story) Anyway Geoff (now may be known as Geo?) made a big impression on me as well. Down to earth and to me a bit of an "eccentric"! A "greenie" before being green was "an in-thing". He would cycle practically everywhere on his bike, often turning up sweaty! :-) But he had a passion for Jesus that was very evident (and I hear that this passion has not waned but has kept growing! Praise God!) One major thing I picked up from him that still has remained as a huge impression on me was his deep sense ...
Read more