PREACHING CHRIST RISEN

[Easter worship attendance] numbers represent people -- each is someone's brother or sister, parent or child, neighbor or co-worker.  Each brings a whole host of joys and sorrows, hopes and doubts, aspirations and temptations to worship. Each wants to join in the songs of the ages for Easter joy, and each harbors moments of despair, anguish, grief and anxiety. While it's fun, interesting, and extraordinarily helpful in our planning to measure attendance, we also realize that the message we proclaim at Easter and every Sunday is one that goes beyond measure. In the meditations of our hearts, the words of our prayers, the rhythm of our music, the joy of our fellowship, the insights of our sermons, and the sustaining grace of our communities, there is a truth that is immeasurable, eternal, infinite, and unfathomable. We dare to speak of hope in times of despair, love in the face of violence, grace in the grip of guilt, and life in the midst of death. We dare to preach Christ risen, alive, present, and as the scripture says, "going ahead of us to Galilee," to all the places where people need the Lord. The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen indeed! 

-- U.M. Bishop Robert Schnase, from his "Five Practices Blog"

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