Faith Scribbling

April 7, 2024 | Second Sunday of Easter  Focus Scripture: Acts 4:32-35 Testimony and Generosity Our Christian faith is grounded in love, something we discuss frequently. We are taught that we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, and souls. And we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. As United Methodists, we should take a moment to consider this point as treated and taught by John Wesley. As described in Paul Chilcote’s book, Multiplying Love, 1 John 4:19 was foundational to both preacher John and hymn-writer Charles Wesley: “We love because God loved us first.” In John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes on the New Testament, he wrote, “This is the sum of all religion, the genuine model of Christianity. We live in the light and love of Christ, the risen Christ, and we are called to share that love. It is that simple.” From this starting place, consider today’s short lectionary reading from Acts. In it, we find two main points, both of which tie back to this ...

Easter Sunday - March 31, 2024 Scripture: John 20:1-18 “Why Are You Weeping?” “Why are you weeping?" Mary Magdalene, left alone at the tomb by Peter and John, is asked this question twice in quick succession this Resurrection Sunday morning. Without doubt, Mary Magdalene loved Jesus and might even have been putting herself in harm’s way to visit that tomb. We are told that Mary went there alone while it was still dark. What she planned to do at the tomb is anyone’s guess, but the most likely explanation is the best. She knew that a large stone had been rolled across the entrance, and she was surely not going to move it. Mary was going there to mourn. That was all she could do. Jesus was dead. She was in the depths of despair, not yet 48 hours past Jesus’s death on the cross. In her grief, the reality of the situation might not yet have set in. Christ died on the cross on Friday, the day of preparation, and his body had been hastily moved into the new tomb provided by Nicod...