“Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach…  No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” – Deuteronomy 30:11, 14

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life…” – Deuteronomy 11:19-20

Easter Sunday was a great day in every respect. The beauty of sunrise worship, our church bells ringing joy throughout the neighborhood, the witness to faith of a sanctuary full with people, walking to the park in the afternoon, dinner with good friends and their family out at Lake Valley.

Rebekah proved that preaching can still be innovative even after more than forty-five years of Easter messages. Hence the passages from Deuteronomy: Listen to me, Moses tells the people at the end of his time with them, there is a clear choice in front of you; you can choose life or death, blessings or curses. It is very much up to you.

“The word is very near you…”

Christ is risen! Woohoo!! That much never changes. But how we respond… and what we do with such electrifying good news? Now that is a day-by-day choice – it is our opportunity. Or, as Rebekah puts it, “I give my life to Jesus every day when Derek wakes me up and serves me that first, delicious, cup of coffee.”

This is not something impossible, Moses reminds the Children of Israel, because – and I love, love, love this phrase – “the word is very near you.”

From sunrise gathered in the garden behind our church, to sunset with our friends on the patio out at Lake Valley, I felt the power and the love of resurrection truth all day long.

It is a truth we have the responsibility to live into every single day.

Listen!

Here, listen to the bells that called us to church, and let them call us into choosing to live the Jesus kind of life today.

I want to finish by sharing the following short post I dropped in my FaceBook feed when I woke up this morning to the sad news that Pope Francis has completed the earthly leg of his beautiful journey. I believe it is apropos:

Rest in Peace Pope Francis: In a world where power is everything, bullying is celebrated and faith is corrupted by politics, Pope Francis reminded us that the way of Jesus is the way of humility, and compassion, and mercy, and grace, and light, and justice and encouragement – a Kingdom where love is everything.

A kingdom where love is everything! That is our mandate. – DEREK