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Artist: Sonia Werner This Sunday is one of my FAVORITE Sundays of the year Easter is great, and the post-resurrection stories are really great!
There is so much excitement and hope in the air as Mary Magdalene and the disciples see the Lord again for the first time after His crucifixion. This Sunday, we'll focus on Mary Magdalene's experience, and what it means in our spiritual lives for us to do as she did - follow the Lord's instructions to "tell the others what I have told you." Thank you in advance to Sonia Werner, from eastern Pennsylvania, a friend and lifelong New Church woman, who wrote a remarkable book about Mary Magdalene and who's paintings (including two in this email) will be featured in this Sunday's worship service.
THANK YOU to everyone for Easter
Weekend's activities I continue to be grateful for everyone who steps up to help in any way so that our activities go smoothly and are of benefit to everyone who attends! THANK YOU to folks who worked behind the scenes for Good Friday evening's service and both of Easter Sunday morning's
services - AND the Easter PHOTO shoot, and the EGG HUNT and the BIG Easter luncheon! It takes loving attention to details and dedication to make these kinds of events happen. And at Sunrise Chapel, we do a great job together!!
With love and respect, Nathan
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UPCOMING CHURCH ACTIVITIES: SUNDAY 4/23/2017 10 am No music rehearsal today - (Pablo & Katrina away) 11 am Post-Easter Sunday Worship Service 12:00 pm
Luncheon - Everyone Welcome!
MONDAY 4/24/2017 11 am Tai Chi for Health 12:15 pm "Go for it" Meeting TUESDAY 4/25/2017 6:30 pm Spiritual Growth Group #6 with
Frank Rose in the Children's Chapel
WEDNESDAY 4/26/2017 9:30 am New Worship Team - 2nd Meeting - open to anyone interested 6:30 pm ON HOLD -
This Spiritual Growth Group at the Ada Peirce McCormick Bldg on the U of A campus is taking a siesta. If interested, contact Nathan
THURSDAY 4/27/2017
11 am Tai Chi - Yang Style 7 pm Women's Group. Contact Elise G, Betsy G, or Kelly W for
location 11 am Sunday Worship Service 12:00 pm "Mountain Camp" potluck luncheon - Everyone Welcome!
You Are Invited to Participate in Worship Team meetings - New, Revised, and Re-energized |
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Our first meeting on April 19 was wonderful - insightful, enjoyable, and social. What is this Worship Team? I used to call it my Sermon Team, but I'm expanding it to include other
aspects of planning worship services. The purpose is to discuss upcoming worship services—topics, application to life, audio and visual aids, music, ways to include more participation, etc. I welcome anyone to try it out with no term commitment. It will be a collaborative small group experience, and what we do will depend somewhat on the interests of the group.
My vision for it is a forward-looking, creative brainstorming and study group. I have found lots of
inspiration from such team efforts in the past. I will run it as a small group, starting with a brief "check in" and prayer, and finishing with a quick "closing thought."
You don’t need to be well-versed in the Bible or theology. Often what I find most helpful are people’s questions and reflections on a topic’s relation to their lives. We will also be reading together "The Art
of Effective Preaching - A Guide for Those Who Preach and Those Who Listen," by Frank and Jeremy Rose.
The second meeting is Wednesday, April 26 from 9:30-10:30 am in the pastor's office. Let me know if you have questions and if you’d like to come!
~Nathan |
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Artist: Soni Werner
Mary Magdalene Reports the Good News of Jesus'
Resurrection John 20:1,11-18 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance... She stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I
don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me,
for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Why Did the Lord Tell Mary to Share Her Experience with His
"brothers"?
Revelation Explained 746
The Lord calls those of His church "brothers" who are in the good of charity, and in an abstract sense that good itself. This can be seen from the following passages. In the Gospels:
Jesus, pointing to His disciples said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” (Matt. 12:49, 50; Mark 3:33-35).
The "disciples" whom the Lord pointed to signify everyone who
is of His church; "His brothers" signify those who are in the good of charity from Him, "sisters" those who are in truths from that good, and "mother" the church made up of these.
In Matthew:
Jesus said to Mary Magdalene and to the other Mary, "Do not be afraid; go tell My brothers to go into Galilee, and they shall see Me there" (Matt. 28:10).
Here, too, "brothers" mean the disciples by whom are signified all those of the church who are in the good of charity. In John:
Jesus said to
Mary, "Go to My brothers, and say to them, I am ascending to My Father"
(John 20:17).
The disciples are here again called "brothers" because "disciples" also signify all those of His church who are in the good of charity, and in an abstract sense that good itself.
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Helping people experience heavenly joy through spiritual growth www.sunrisechapel.org
nathan@sunrisechapel.org Office 520-298-1245
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