The Last Session: The City of God

Materials:
A recording of the "Hallelujah" Chorus from Handel’s Messiah
Hymn: “You Are Salt for The Earth”

For Experiential Options:
Items for making greeting cards, such as stamping equipment, paper, scrapbooking templates, paper and pens.
Hymnals

Opening Statement (Leader to summarize where indicated during session or to copy for group):
            This year Easter falls almost as early as is possible.  Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox, which is the first day of spring.  This year spring begins on Thursday, March 20, the full moon follows one day later, and the first Sunday is two days later, on the 23rd.
            The fact that Easter moves around from year to year is appropriate because we can never tell when resurrection is going to burst into our lives.
            There was a time when every Sunday was Easter Sunday and every week was Easter week.  The early church broke bread in a love feast that was more than just a remembrance of the Last Supper; it was proof through the loaves and fishes that the table of the Lord was still spread.  There were so many social barriers in the Roman Empire – between Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free, rich and poor, that communal meals were non-existent.  But Christians did, in the Christian celebration of love.  Though Jew and Gentile ate meat prepared in different ways, their respective dietary restrictions did not prohibit bread, wine, and fish.  These they ate together.  In sharing the Bread and Cup, they commemorated the cross, and in every worship service they celebrated the Resurrection of Christ.
            Sometimes we hear people wonder why it can’t be Christmas the whole year round, but the spirit of Easter is even more precious and far more important than the spirit of that other wonderful holiday.  The resurrection of Jesus is at the heart of our faith, and cannot be shaken from the center of who we are. This is the gift we looked forward to all of Lent.  This joy keeps bursting through even our most serious expression.  The fact that we know the ending of the story does not make it any less wonderful. 
            The world, flesh, and evil have tried to kill, misinterpret, trivialize, redefine, and ignore Jesus.  Nothing works.  He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Scripture Reading: Matthew 28:1-10

Focus Statement: “Jesus is risen!”

Gathering
            As people arrive play portions of Handel’s Messiah including the”Hallelujah” Chorus. Greet each person with the words, “May the joy of the risen Lord be yours!”  and invite them to respond, “He is risen!  He is risen indeed!”
            Sing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” 
            Share treats made from family recipes.
            Read the following quote from the opening of Augustine’s The City of God.
            “The glorious city of God is my theme…  I have undertaken its defence against those who prefer their own gods to the Founder of this city, -- a city surpassingly glorious, whether we view it as it still lives by faith in this fleeting course of time, and sojourns as a stranger in the midst of the ungodly, or as it shall dwell in the fixed stability of its eternal seat, which it now with patience waits for, expecting until “righteousness shall return unto judgment,” and it obtain, by virtue of its excellence, finally victory and perfect peace.”           
            Sing “You Are Salt for the Earth, O People”
            Take time to reflect on and discuss the last meditations of the Lenten season.

Marking the Milestones (Daily Meditations from The Upper Room)

Thursday, March 20, 2008
Holy Thursday
Maundy Thursday – In my faith tradition (Church of the Brethren) this is the day we celebrate our three-part communion service.  We begin with the footwashing, re-enacting John 13 as we wash each other’s feet.  Afterwards we meet for a meal in memory of the Last Supper. Each church has its own menu, and most people look forward to the smells, sight, and taste of the Love Feast.  The bread-and-cup communion concludes the service.  Often the Last Supper is depicted as a somber affair, but only Jesus knew he was going to die.  The rest of the apostles were excited about sharing the Passover, the meal that commemorated their release from slavery.  Even today both the Passover and the Love Feast recreate in the present an event from the past while looking forward to its perfect fulfillment at the end of time.  That’s part of what makes this weekend timeless.  The writer of this meditation talks about the impending suffering of Jesus and his willingness to pray “Not my will, but yours.”  Can you pray that prayer? When have you had to? 

Friday, March 21, 2008
Tombstones and Cornerstones
Good Friday – When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss and pour contempt on all my pride. The words of Isaac Watts sum up the pain of this day, the wondrous sacrifice, the terrible price.  The writer talks about cornerstones, tombstones, and other markers.  The cross is the symbol of Christianity, which is ironic since it was anything but a permanent marker!  Talk with each other about what the cross means to you, your first memory of seeing a cross, how the image has been part of your life, and how you would explain its significance to others.

Saturday, March 22, 2008
Here to Stay
Holy Saturday. This is where we spend most of our lives – that dreary day between the fact of death, filled with numbness, and the reality of resurrection to burst in our lives.  This is a real place.  How strange that scripture tells us next to nothing about how the disciples spent that day!  What could they have said?  What might they have done?  Were there recriminations, tears, comforting words, long silences?  What do you think?  Yet in death there is life.  The writer talks about daffodils that continue to bloom across decades, a reminder of the life that is hidden with the loss of loved ones and the promise we shall be raised. 

Sunday, March 23, 2008
Choose the Lord
Easter Sunday: Women in hats, boys in stiff shoes just begging to be scuffed, little girls tugging on their gloves. What memories do you have of Easter?  The writer of today’s meditation takes us back to the first Easter.  Why not follow?  Consider her words and the reflection questions below.

Reflection:
           Imagine you are one of the disciples during that long Saturday between the crucifixion and the morning of the resurrection.  How fast or slowly do you think time would have passed? What would you have said to each other?  Would you have spoken at all? 
           Imagine that you are one of the women. After evening fell and the Sabbath had ended, what it would have been like to prepare the spices to go back the next morning to the tomb? Imagine trying to sleep knowing the task that lies ahead. 
           Imagine how long it took for morning to arrive. 
            Imagine what it was like to head to the tomb. 
            Now imagine…

Connections:
            Review or summarize some of the thoughts from the Opening Statement.  Call to mind this important fact: the women did not go to the tomb to witness a resurrection.  They were at their posts, doing their duty.  How important is it to go about our daily business?  Sometimes we try very hard to create very special moments or events.  What does the surprise of the Resurrection that awaited the faithful women say about the way we live our lives?

Going Forth
            You have arrived at the City of God.  Is this destination an ending, or is it the beginning of a new journey?  Will your small group continue to meet?  Are there new studies and new tasks waiting for you?

            Sing the following song to the tune “Go Tell It On the Mountain.”
(Refrain)
Go tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Go tell it on the mountain
That Jesus lives and reigns.

The women brought the good news
So hard for some to hear
That Jesus lives among us
And casts away our fear.

Refrain

Two grieving shared with Jesus
Their grief that he was dead
But never recognized him
Until they broke the bread.

Refrain

For now we share this meal
And by his hand are fed,
As in this sign we seal
The living drink and bread.

Refrain

            Say together the following benediction: (Jude 24-25)
            All: Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Experiential and Journaling Options

            Design cards to send to others, inviting them to worship with your church.

           Open hymnals and sing Easter hymns together.

           Write Easter poems, using the letters E-A-S-T-E-R as the first letter of a line.

           
For a Children’s Session:
            Materials:
            Snap-together colored building blocks.
            Bibles
            Hymnals
           

Open by reading the account of the resurrection in Matthew 28:1-10.  Ask the following wondering questions.
            How sad do you think the friends of Jesus felt when he died?
            What do you think they said to each other?
            How do you think they chose who went to take care of the body in the tomb?
            What do you think they felt inside when they met the risen Jesus?
            What do you think the men thought when the women came back saying Jesus had been raised from the dead?
            What would you have said if you had been there?
            Sing “Go Tell It On the Mountain” with the Easter words printed for this session.
            Spread out the building blocks on a table and invite children to build the City of God together.  Encourage them as they work to identify what each building is for and how it will help the people of God, and how it will please God. 
            And make sure there are plenty of Easter treats!