mySundaySermons

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people [Jeremiah 31:33, NRSV]

Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. [1 Corinthians 5:6b-8, NRSV]

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” and when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you–that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” [Luke 24:13-49, NRSV]

In Negro Slave Songs in the United States (1953), Miles Mark Fisher suggests that this African American spiritual could well have originated in Virginia in the 1750s, based on this story from Hanover, Virginia, 1756: “A black slave asked Presbyterian preacher William Davies, ‘I come to you, sir, that you may tell me some good things concerning Jesus Christ and my duty to God, for I am resolved not to live any more as I have done. . . Lord [Sir], I want to be a Christian.’” Apparently the story fits well with the ministry style of Davies in Virginia between 1748 and 1759.

2 Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart, in my heart. Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart.  In my heart, in my heart, Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart. 

3 Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart, in my heart.  Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart.  In my heart, in my heart,  Lord, I want to be more holy in my heart. 

4 Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart, in my heart. Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart. In my heart, in my heart,  Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.

I would further suggest it might well fit with us in 2013.  It is easy for us to retell the history and story of our faith. Telling the account of Jesus in his final week, final hours and in the accounts of that first Easter Sunday at the empty tomb.But the drams become faith when we open our hearts to God and speak not our minds, rather open our hearts.

We speak frequently and even flippantly about our hearts. Take for example:

• aching heart
• after one`s own heart
• at heart
• bleeding heart
• break (someone`s) heart
• close to (someone’s) heart
• cross one`s heart and hope to die
• die of a broken heart
• do his heart good
• do it in a heartbeat
• eat one`s heart out
• find it in one’s heart to (do something)
• follow one’s heart
• from the heart
• from the bottom of one`s heart
• go (somewhere) in a heartbeat
• have a big heart
• have a change of heart
• have a heart
• have a heart of gold
• Bless their heart
• have a heart of stone
• have a heart-to-heart talk with (someone)
• have a soft spot in one’s heart for (someone or something)
• have one`s heart set on (something)
• heart and soul
• heart bleeds for (someone)
• heart goes out to (someone)
• heart is dead set against (something)
• heart is in one’s mouth
• heart is in the right place
• heart is not in (something)
• heart is set against (something)
• heart is set on (something)
• heart misses/skips a beat
• heart stands still
• heart to heart
• heartbeat away from (something)
• heavy heart
• in one’s heart of hearts, more correctly, core of ones heart, said Hamlet
• lose heart
• near to your heart
• not have the heart to do (something)
• open one`s heart to (someone)
• pour one’s heart out (to someone)
• search one`s heart/soul
• sick at heart
• sin sick heart
• strike at the heart of (something)
• take heart
• take to heart
• he ate at the buffet until his  heart’s content
• tug at your heartstrings
• Warm some one’s heart
• warm the cockles of (someone’s) heart
• way to (someone’s) heart
• wear one`s heart on one`s sleeve
• win (someone’s) heart
• with all one`s heart (and soul)
• young at heart

But today, the idiom of our text is to be known by heart, known within our heart.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people [Jeremiah 31:33, NRSV]

As Paul writes to encourage and instruct the church at Corinth, he draws in the Passover Tradition of starting with Unleavened bread. How do we know Christ in our heart?

We have to empty the refrigerator sometime… to start fresh.

So our relationship, needs a good old fashion dose of the resurrection of Jesus to wake up what is dead and leading us to death.

Easter is not a day of rest, it is a day to open our hearts to the very Heart of God.

God wants the CORE of who we are, not just a holiday, not just a Sunday. God wants US everyday.

 

This is the power of Easter for us right now.

God has given all, I mean ALL, for your heart.

God wants you to not just know ABOUT him nor only ABOUT the story.

GOD is dying for you.

GOD is living for your life.

This is what EASTER means to us today…  Most likely you have all hear the Good News of the Easter message..

 

SO WHAT? I have ben wrestling with the book NOT A FAN, about being a follower compared to being a fan.

ASK yourself this morning: What does it mean that God wants to be at CENTRAL OFFICE, the CORE, at the CPU, at the beginning and end of you.?

Am I willing to give the Live God, the power of the God’s Spirit? The grace and love of Jesus the steering wheel wherever we go,

If so, than I need to forgive some folks, serve some folks, trust some folks, meet some folks, let go of some folks,

 

In my Heart, In my Heart, Lord I want to be your son, daughter, man/woman, youth, child, YOURs.

This is the Easter Invite..