Brown's Daily Word 5-2-11

Good morning,
Praise the Lord this first Monday of May. The Lord blessed us with a full and blessed weekend of worship, witness, and fellowship. Sunita celebrated her birthday yesterday. She and Andy attended a wedding celebration of one of their friends/colleagues this past Saturday.
The Gospel Reading for yesterday was taken from John 20: 19 ff: “Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ So he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’ And after eight days his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at my hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ And Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:24-29) Thomas was invited to see and touch Jesus. His doubts were banished, and his faith soared.
The apostle John added his own footnote at that point. After affirming that the life of Jesus was filled with other events and signs that are not recorded in his volume, he wrote, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:31).
In John Masefield’s drama, “The Trial of Jesus,” there is a passage in which the Roman centurion in command at the cross came back to Pilate at the end of the day to hand in his report. Later Pilate’s wife asked the soldier how Jesus died. He told her in more detail than was really necessary. Suddenly she asked, “Do you think he’s dead?” The centurion responded, “No, I don’t.” “Where is he?” she asked? “He’s loose in the world, lady, where no one can stop his truth!”
Indeed our Risen Lord is at large in the world today. We can serve Him, we can worship Him with joy and obedience.
In Christ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/fktj1yOQ2nQ

Saturday evening worship service.
Location: First United Methodist Church
53 McKinley Avenue
Endicott
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott

Saturday, May 7, 2011
6 PM Coffee Fellowship

6:30 PM Worship Service
Worship Music: Jane Hettinger, Mary Haskel
Speaker: Dave Hettinger