Christ is risen, he is risen indeed!
Greetings to you all in the name of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ,
A few days ago, I had a special plan with my family for attending an out of town event, and I heard about Winter Weather Warning for that particular day. It said that we might have several inches of snow all through the afternoon. However, it did not bother me much because we are already in the springtime waiting for the summer! Winter has lost its power and the spring has won the victory!
"Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" by Charles Wesley
“Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia! Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia! Where’s thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!”
(written by C. Wesley, UMH 302, v.3)
Now it is truly the season of celebrating our Risen Lord. Around us, I can still hear Wesley’s resurrection hymn, “Christ the Lord is risen today”, and I cannot resist joining the chorus whenever it is heard. What a joy! What a power! And what a victory! Who is able to take these “Alleluias” from us now? I dare say “No one!”.
But two thousand years ago, in the same place, where he had called his disciples before he turned water into wine in the wedding at Cana (John 1:43), he visited and called them again after he was resurrected from the dead. Now, this risen Lord, who is visiting each one of our lives through this season, is inviting us to join the new journey with him and with his disciples in a new dimension with the same words.
“Follow Me.” (John 21:19, NRSV)
This means, the Christ’s resurrection was not the ending but the new beginning! I wondered, “how am I following him as my new beginning?”. Without hesitation, I can say, “It is with our unshakable spirit filled faith”. Why? Because those disciples, who got called by Jesus a second time, began their new journey with that faith, even after Jesus ascended into heaven. Which means they did that without Jesus because the Holy Spirit enabled them to heal, teach, and live like Christ Jesus.
In other words, Jesus was always there as they kept that unshakable faith, and it made them grow in Christ filled with the Holy Spirit without fears or doubts anymore, but with joy even boldly confronting all the dangers of their life. But I wonder again, “Can I do the same?” and “How do I have that?”
According to the stories of the disciples, they have witnessed the power that they held, the spirit filled faith. And it has continued until now two thousand years later on the other side of the world, in Wisconsin. So we follow Jesus like them.
Now brothers and sisters in Christ, here are what they hold in their hearts, the spirit filled faith, unshakable, as they followed him in a new dimension.
Can we hold this spirit filled faith, unshakable, in us together now? If so, let us begin our new journey with Christ holding this together. We will truly find a joy eternal!
Join me..
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Kyochul
2nd Symphony "Auferstehung" , Finale by G. Mahler
Die Auferstehung
(5th movement)
Rise again, yes, rise again,
Will you My dust,
After a brief rest!
Immortal life! Immortal life
Will He who called you, give you.
To bloom again were you sown!
The Lord of the harvest goes
And gathers in, like sheaves,
Us together, who died.
Will you My dust,
After a brief rest!
Immortal life! Immortal life
Will He who called you, give you.
To bloom again were you sown!
The Lord of the harvest goes
And gathers in, like sheaves,
Us together, who died.
by Freidrich Klopstock
O believe, my heart, O believe:
Nothing to you is lost!
Yours is, yes yours, is what you desired
Yours, what you have loved
What you have fought for!
O believe,
You were not born for nothing!
Have not for nothing, lived, suffered!
What was created
Must perish,
What perished, rise again!
Cease from trembling!
Prepare yourself to live!
O Pain, You piercer of all things,
From you, I have been wrested!
O Death, You conqueror of all things,
Now, are you conquered!
With wings which I have won for myself,
In love's fierce striving,
I shall soar upwards
To the light which no eye has penetrated!
Die shall I in order to live.
Rise again, yes, rise again,
Will you, my heart, in an instant!
That for which you suffered,
To God shall it carry you!
Nothing to you is lost!
Yours is, yes yours, is what you desired
Yours, what you have loved
What you have fought for!
O believe,
You were not born for nothing!
Have not for nothing, lived, suffered!
What was created
Must perish,
What perished, rise again!
Cease from trembling!
Prepare yourself to live!
O Pain, You piercer of all things,
From you, I have been wrested!
O Death, You conqueror of all things,
Now, are you conquered!
With wings which I have won for myself,
In love's fierce striving,
I shall soar upwards
To the light which no eye has penetrated!
Die shall I in order to live.
Rise again, yes, rise again,
Will you, my heart, in an instant!
That for which you suffered,
To God shall it carry you!
by Gustav Mahler
