John 12:35 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

1. _____________ always leads to ______________.

2. The lives of God's people are always to reflect their ____________.

3. Jesus walked out of that tomb proclaiming that the former creation that had been subjected to sin had now been _____________ and He was starting a _________ ______________ that Sunday morning.

4. In the resurrection, Jesus promises to _____________ all things to the way that God intended them to be in the creation, including ____________.

Scripture Readings
Leviticus 23:1-3
Acts 5:12-20
John 20:19-31

Take It With You!

During Easter we will be learning how the Israelites celebrated their God and how those celebrations point us to Jesus. Here we will offer thoughts and meditations on the celebration of Christ to help us as we contemplate and discuss and wrestle with the messages.

If we are serious about living well in God's creation, we can start by clearing out the clutter of Sundays, and then engage in corporate ways to do nothing: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength" (Isa. 30:15). Cultivate Solitude. Cultivate silence. There is nothing novel here; this counsel is at the center of the counsel of those who have led us into an obedient and faithful life of mission and prayer for twenty centuries now. I have nothing new to say on the subject; but I am convinced that it is critical to say it again, to say it urgently, to say it in Jesus' name backed by Moses' authority: keep Sabbath -attend to creation...adore the Creator.
Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places. p. 118

Note, then, that the power and force of [the third] commandment consists not in the resting but in the hallowing, so that this day may have its special holy function. Other work and business are really not designated by holy activities unless the person doing them is first holy. In this case, however, a work must take place through which a person becomes holy. This work, as we have heard, takes place through God's Word. Places, times, persons, and the entire outward order of worship have therefore been instituted and appointed in order that God's Word may exert its power publicly.
Martin Luther's Large Catechism, The Third Commandment, paragraph 94.