The Sunday School class had disappeared.
Now and then I have time to roam around Sunday mornings and look in on the kids
in Sunday School. It was the first Sunday of March and the D-wing was quiet
as a tomb, two whole classes and three teachers missing. I was afraid something
had happened to them. Then I remembered they'd planned to go shopping, using
their Sunday School offerings to buy items for the soldier boxes, returning
with phone cards, socks, candy, little toys. They disappeared again the following
Sunday, after spending Sunday School time packing boxes and visiting with Don
Glumm, whose son will receive some of them while in Iraq for his fourth tour.
The kids told Don what they'd put in the boxes, and Don told them how much his
son appreciates the prayers and gifts from friends and family at home. Their
teacher turned around to look for something, and suddenly they were gone. She
told me later she'd run out into the hall in a panic and turned the corner only
to find them with Don, quietly looking at a map of the world, trying to locate
Holland and Iraq.
That's how all four Gospels describe Easter. The women came looking for the
body of Christ and are broken hearted to find that it has disappeared. They
are greeted by an angel, who tells them Jesus is not here, he has been raised,
he's gone off to Galilee. Christ is on the loose again, and you'll find him
in Galilee.
It would be nice if you could nail Jesus down, if he would just stay put. It
would certainly be cheaper and probably safer and absolutely much less work,
if Jesus would just stay where we put him. But if his body had stayed in that
tomb it would mean he was dead, and that we would be dead, too - and we know
that's just not true.
So if we want to follow Jesus, we're wasting our time waiting at an empty tomb.
His body has been raised, and if you want to spend time with him you need to
go meet him in Galilee. Our kids found Galilee in Meijers, where they bought
things for someone besides themselves, or in a hallway looking at a map. I found
Galilee in a basement on a Saturday morning, with four boys, three moms and
a grandmother, making soup and chalices and bread for Holy Communion. I know
some folks who find Galilee Tuesday mornings, serving lunch downtown at the
Community Kitchen, or in another basement making quilts, or in Ocean Springs,
Mississippi, rebuilding homes. Join us the Sundays of Easter, my friends, and
we'll give you a road map to Galilee. All you will need to do is leave home.
Pastor Jim
He has been raised from the dead, and indeed is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him. Matthew 28:7
From the Shepherd's Song Newsletter -- April 2008
Copyright 2008 by Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
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E-mail your comments and questions to Pastor Jim in care of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church at gslc@sirus.com.