Discipling Life

This Easter Sunday I decided to do something different. I wanted to focus on the epistle lesson for the day. The first four verses of the third chapter of Paul's letter to the Colossians. 1 Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. The Hidden Life Date: April 5, 2026 Speaker: Alan Swartz Scripture: Colossians 3:1-4 1. Introduction In the quiet of this Easter morning, we find ourselves standing at a   threshold. It is the intersection where the silence of an empty tomb meets the our profound expectation for a word that actually matters. We gather with a deep hunger, hoping that the story of the resurrection might do more than occupy our minds for an hour; w...

There are moments in life when everything feels unsettled. You might be sitting at your kitchen table, or standing in the hallway at church, or lying awake at night, and even though the room is quiet, your heart is anything but. Fear, uncertainty, and unanswered questions have a way of lingering. The disciples knew that feeling well. After the resurrection, they gathered behind closed doors, trying to make sense of rumors and reports, unsure what to believe or what the future would hold. It’s easy to understand the disciples’ fear that evening . They had seen their Lord crucified, buried, and now, some claimed, alive again. The room must have been thick with confusion and wonder when suddenly, “Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’” (Luke 24:36). Peace was the last thing they probably felt at that moment. Yet peace was the first thing Jesus offered. Sometimes life feels like that upper room. We lock the doors of our hearts, trying to make sense of dis...

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb… Jesus said to her, 'Mary!' She turned and said to him in Hebrew, 'Rabbouni!' (which means Teacher). (John 20:1–18, NRSVue) Easter morning always begins in the dark. The sky is quiet, the world still wrapped in shadow. Mary Magdalene steps into that darkness carrying grief. The one who had changed her life is gone, and all she can do is come to the place where his body had been laid. It is love that brings her there. It is a love strong enough to face sorrow head-on. But what she finds is not what she expects. The stone is rolled away. The tomb is empty. Confusion and fear give way to astonishment as the risen Christ speaks her name, “Mary!” When she hears it everything changes. Light breaks into darkness, despair turns to hope, and death itself loses its power. This is the miracle at the heart of our faith: God r...