Pause

Resurrection changes everything. It changes the way we see the past, the present, and the future. In the new life of Christ we are all offered the promise that death is not the end.

It really is only the beginning.

Begin now to see God at work to bring life again, to you and to every one.

Listen

I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it....

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Psalm 118:21-24, 29

Think

“The stone that the builders rejected” is a line Jesus borrowed from Psalm 118 to prepare his disciples for his death. After his resurrection, when Matthew, Mark, and Luke were re-telling the gospel story, they remembered Jesus’ words. It was a phrase that also came back to Peter when he testified before the Jerusalem Council (Acts 4). The phrase was a judgement on those who refused to accept that Jesus was God’s Son and were responsible for his crucifixion. We have the clarity of hindsight and faith to see that God took “the stone that was rejected,” and made him the foundation stone for our faith.

As the “chief cornerstone,” Jesus is the first and most essential building block in the amazing house that God is building. We might call it church, but it is a spiritual building made out of Christian believers from every time and place. Your words and actions, your very life, is a precious stone, unique and colorful. God’s amazing architectural feat stands as a witness to Jesus’ resurrection.

Tammy Wiens-Sorge

Pray

God, you are great and all that you have made is great. Thank you for giving us Jesus as the cornerstone of our faith. Thank you, too, that my life is built on the secure foundation of a risen Lord. Amen.

Go

But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Romans 8:10-11