Eastertide 2010
New Heavens and a New Earth
For I am about to create
new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered.
Isaiah 65:17
In Isaiah 65, the prophet gives words to a reform so wide-ranging that everything in the created order is included. God is not content to stop on the human plane but goes on to erase the enmity between predator and prey and even to renew the very ground of life as we know it.
This Isaiah text sets the tone for the whole season of Eastertide, the 50 days between Easter and Pentecost. Isaiah invites us to keep our eyes peeled for the new things God is doing and Easter reminds us that Jesus' resurrection inaugurates a whole new way of being. The weekly gospel and Acts readings challenge us to join in God’s cosmic renewal project.
But change does not come easily. Like the first disciples and the early church, we struggle to move beyond our comfort zones – in our vocations, our attitudes, our economy, our hospitality. We might secretly prefer a resuscitated life, a restoration of the way things used to be. Instead God brings resurrection: something radically new.
April 11, 2010 2nd Sunday in Easter
A NEW PEACE
John 20:19-31; Acts 5:27-32; Revelations 1:4-8
Speaker: Trent Voth
April 18, 2010 3rd Sunday in Easter
A NEW WAY OF SEEING
John 21:1-19; Acts 9:1-6; Revelation 5:11-14
Speaker: Bill Braun
April 25, 2010 4th Sunday in Easter
NEW POWER
Acts 9:32-43; Revelation 7:9-17
Speaker: Bill Braun
May 2, 2010 5th Sunday in Easter
A NEW COMMANDMENT
John 13:31-35; Acts 11:1-18; Revelation 21:1-6
Speaker: Mary Anne Isaak
Communion
May 9, 2010 6th Sunday in Easter
NEW BELIEVERS
Acts 16:9-15; Revelation 21:10; 22-22:5
Speaker: Mary Anne Isaak
May 16, 2010 7th Sunday in Easter
NEW BOLDNESS
John 17:20-26; Acts 16:16-34; Revelation 22:12-14
Speaker: Bill Braun
May 23, 2010 Pentecost Sunday
NEW COMMUNITY
Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21
Speaker: Fekadu Abebe