Easter Sunday

 Video will Premiere at 10am on Sunday

• Teaching Notes

  Albert Camus - “Live to the point of tears.”

  Suffering

  Matthew 28:1 - After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

  David Benner - “Ultimately, we need a meaning that will be strong enough to make suffering sufferable.

  Isaiah 53:4-5 -

  4 Surely he took up our pain

  and bore our suffering,

  yet we considered him punished by God,

  stricken by him, and afflicted.

  5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,

  he was crushed for our iniquities;

  the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

  and by his wounds we are healed.

  Fear

  Matthew 28:5,10 - “Do not be afraid.”

  Fear is the anticipation of evil.

  …

  In your fear, do not be afraid.

  Receive reality and reorient in love.

  Dallas Willard - “Noth­ing irre­deemable has hap­pened to us or can hap­pen to us on our way to our des­tiny in God’s world.” 

  Faith is the practice of putting your trust in something or someone.

  Desire

  Matthew 28:5 - …I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.

  Thomas Merton - “We live in a society whose whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at the highest pitch of artificial tension, to strain every human desire to the limit and to create as many new desires and synthetic passions as possible, in order to cater to them with the products of our factories and printing presses and movie studios and all the rest.”

  Good desire, misdirected, leads to mis-living.

  Ronald Rolheiser - Some of us are obsessed with beauty, some of us are obsessed with finding a soulmate, some of us are obsessed with sex, some of us are obsessed with truth, some of us are obsessed with justice, and some of us are obsessed with the energy, color, and pleasures of this world. But very few of us are obsessed, or even much interested, in God who is the author of beauty, sexuality, intimacy, truth, justice, energy, color, and pleasure.

• Group Discussion Guide

  Each Sunday we come together we offer an open invitation into the way of Jesus. An invitation to enter into sacred rhythms - to draw near to God through singing, giving, learning, and praying.

  As a community that desires renewal in Des Moines as it is in Heaven, we recognize that we cannot offer what we ourselves do not have. We cannot lead where we ourselves have not been led; in turn, these questions aim at reflection. Reflecting on God’s word and making space for his leadership. 

  After watching or listening consider the following discussion questions as a large group or in groups of three to four:

  • What stood out from the teaching?

  • How does the resurrection of Jesus and “living life to the point of tears” (i.e., living life to its fullest) go together?

  • What comes to mind when you hear that Jesus makes our suffering sufferable by entering into human suffering? (Consider reading Isaiah 53:4-6)

  • In what ways can we bring our fear to Jesus?

  • Where has faith helped you combat fear?

  • Spend some time discussing how Jesus can meet our desires when they’re redirected to/in him.