Worship Preview: April 5, 2026. "Easter Sunday - "In breaking..."

WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY: 10:30am.“Easter Sunday: In breaking...” Scriptures: Psalm 118, Luke 24:1-35. Rev. Christopher Eshelman preaching.

Buen Camino! Blessings on your journey! We have arrived at Easter Sunday! We celebrate the Risen Christ – and we find that our journey is not at an end but at a new beginning! At Christmas we celebrate the incarnation. The Word become flesh, light coming into the world. Through the seasons of Epiphany and Lent we have continued to think about that metaphor or image of light. Using a tune called Siyahamba that originated in South Africa during apartheid and that comes to our hymnal by way of a Swedish Lutheran pastor and choir director, we have sung that we are marching, singing, praying, living – in the light of God and because the Lord is our light! We have also focused on the images Jesus gives us of being the Good Shepherd who call his flocks – and who tells us he has “other flocks” and as “the Gate” – that is it is Christ, not us who calls and sends.

This understanding of being one flock in the midst of God’s universal church is deep in United Methodist “DNA” – we have always understood that we draw from and share with other traditions. As a lifelong Anglican, John Wesley was heavily influenced and encouraged by Moravians (a german Lutheran pietist group) as well as authors and theologians from Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Wesley had a gift for holding apparently competing ideas in creative tension with a “both / and” approach. Wesley was practical, with a focus on service. “Though we do not think alike, can we not love alike?” has long been a rallying cry of Methodists from Wesley’s time to today.

Which brings me to Easter. The miracle and wonder of the empty tomb astounds the disciples, who at first dismiss the women’s account as an “idle tale” and they “did not believe them.” Yet the witness of the Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and “other women” (per Luke’s account) is true! And Jesus soon begins appearing to people – the 11 remaining disciples, those who accompanied them, and the story we will hear about “two of them” – Cleopas and an unnamed follower who are walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, about 7 miles away. We are invited into the story. What do you see? What do you hear? What questions are on your heart and mind? What is that you “had hoped”? Suddenly, in the breaking of the bread, Jesus is revealed to them and they run to tell the others, only to find that others have had similar experiences and appearances!

In the midst of a broken world full of temptation and despair, we encounter Easter. The inbreaking of the reign of God. A growing awareness of the grace of God that surrounds us and equips us - even before we know it – to hear the voice of our shepherd and respond.

Last week at Palm Sunday we talked about the crowds waving palms crying out “Hossanna” – “save us.” They meant from Roman occupation but Jesus’ vision is bigger. Easter reveals that we are saved from sin and death – and called to a new journey as disciples, indeed, as apostles ourselves. Our liberation is not escape from this world, but a call to reshape it. To do, here on earth, as it is in heaven. Certainly there is more than this life and Jesus gives us a foretaste of it, but right now our work is here! On Thursday of Holy Week, we celebrated the “Last Supper” that Jesus holds with those closest to him – and there he gave “a new commandment” – that we love one another – and that we follow him in service. That table is every bit as important and as meaningful as the cross. The cross shows us, yet again, the way of empire. The table, Christ’s table, shows us the way of the beloved Kingdom. We are to join this “in breaking.” This first Sunday of April, this Easter Sunday, you are invited to Christ’s table. Yes, you! Bring your whole self, your hopes and your shortcomings – to believe… to be equipped for the journey Christ calls you to – and to walk that journey in community, connection, and communion with others – as the body of Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen!

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

FEEDING FAMILIES IN HIS NAME: Wednesday, April 8 - A free, no obligation meal is served “to-go” style from underneath our portico from 5:15pm to 6:15pm each Wednesday, prepared each week by our members as well as several area churches and community groups. We aim to provide 400 meals per week. 

MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID TRAINING – Open to the community! On Saturday, April 18^th Join Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center staff for a day of learning about how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental health and substance abuse challenges among adults. No cost, lunch provided with registration.Register by calling Angie Smith at (620) 212-4404 or email adsmith@sekmhc.org.