Peter addressed the gathered people saying:

“Now it is all perfectly clear to me — God does not play favourites! Whoever you are and wherever you are from, if you take God seriously and do the right thing, God will welcome you with open arms! Jesus the Messiah preached God’s message about a peace deal to the people of Israel, but clearly it did not stop with them — he is Lord of all! No doubt you have heard the news about Jesus of Nazareth, because since it sparked off in Galilee, it has spread like wildfire all over Judea. The story began after John started calling everyone to turn their lives around through baptism. God singled Jesus out then and there, charging him with the Holy Spirit’s power. From then on, Jesus travelled around working for good and helping people out from under the devil’s thumb and back onto their feet. God was with him in all this. We saw it all ourselves; everything he did in the Judean backblocks and in the city of Jerusalem. They strung him up on a post and killed him, but three days later God raised him to life and let us see him. Not everybody got to see him, but God had picked us out to be the ones who would know first hand what had happened. We got to spend time sharing meals and a few drinks with him after he was brought back from the dead. He gave us the job of getting his message out to the people and going public with the fact that he is the one who God has appointed to make the final assessment of everybody on earth, past and present. You don’t have to take our word alone on this; all the prophets back us up. Everyone who puts their trust in Jesus receives pardon for their sins on his say so.”

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Every people on earth will be invited to the sacred mountain for the huge party thrown by the LORD who rules over everything. It will be the feast to end all feasts, with the very finest of foods and wines: choice meats, wines aged to perfection, gourmet delicacies to make every mouth water! And right here on this sacred mountain the LORD will tear off the pall of death and release the nations from the coffin that held them. The LORD will swallow up death once and for all. With that, the Lord GOD will wipe the tears from every eye, and God’s people will no longer be humiliated and despised; The LORD says so and that settles it. When that happens people will say, Wow! This is our God! We hoped, we waited, we trusted God to save us. And our waiting has not been in vain. The LORD has not let us down. Celebrate! Sing and dance, for God has come to our rescue and set us free. ©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Thank you, LORD, thank you! Thank you for your goodness! Thank you for your love — rock solid and timeless! May all your people recognise that your love and loyalty last forever. Our energy and strength come from you, LORD; our peace and safety were won by you. The sound of singing rings out from the homes of all who are honest and true. They sing of what you have done, LORD, for you raised your hand and saved the day. Now we know that our lives are safe; we will live to tell of what you have done. You gave us the tough medicine we deserved, LORD, but you didn’t let death get its claws into us. The minute they open the city gates — the gates of justice — we’ll be the first through, LORD; eager to tell you how thankful we are. These gates belong to you, LORD, those you have put right can come on through. Thank you for answering our prayers, LORD; for coming to our rescue and putting us right. From a rejected stone found in a rubbish pile you cut and polished a priceless jewel. This is obviously your work, LORD, and we can hardly believe our eyes! Today is your day, LORD, a day to honour you; we will celebrate with joy and laughter. ©2001 Nathan Nettleton Laughingbird.net

My friends, let me spell out the guts of the message I’ve been preaching one more time. This is the message which you welcomed so eagerly and gladly put your names to. It is the message through which your lives are being saved, assuming of course, that your faith has got sticking power and wasn’t just a flash in the pan. What a waste that would have been! In my preaching I passed on to you the really crucial stuff, exactly as it had been told to me. Let me recite it again:

The Messiah died to deal with our sins, backing up what the scriptures say. After three days in the grave, he was raised to life, backing up what the scriptures say. He appeared alive to Peter, and then to his closest followers. He also appeared to a gathering of more than five hundred of his followers. Of those who saw him, only a few have since died; most are still alive to tell the story. He spent some time with James and the others he had picked out to be the leaders of his church.

At the end of the line – like the perpetual late-comer I am – I too was privileged to have him appear to me. If anyone deserved to be left out, it was me and I have certainly never deserved my place among the leaders of his church because I spent my early years trying to wipe God’s church out of existence. But God is extremely generous and has made me what I am. I’ve driven myself hard to make sure that God’s investment in me was not wasted. I reckon I’ve been the hardest worker on the team, although I can’t really take the credit when it is actually God who is so generously working through me. It makes no difference which of us God was using at the time. Whether you heard it from me or from them, what matters is that you heard the message we were preaching and that you put your trust in what we had to say. ©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Peter addressed the gathered people saying:

“Now it is all perfectly clear to me — God does not play favourites! Whoever you are and wherever you are from, if you take God seriously and do the right thing, God will welcome you with open arms! Jesus the Messiah preached God’s message about a peace deal to the people of Israel, but clearly it did not stop with them — he is Lord of all! No doubt you have heard the news about Jesus of Nazareth, because since it sparked off in Galilee, it has spread like wildfire all over Judea. The story began after John started calling everyone to turn their lives around through baptism. God singled Jesus out then and there, charging him with the Holy Spirit’s power. From then on, Jesus travelled around working for good and helping people out from under the devil’s thumb and back onto their feet. God was with him in all this. We saw it all ourselves; everything he did in the Judean backblocks and in the city of Jerusalem. They strung him up on a post and killed him, but three days later God raised him to life and let us see him. Not everybody got to see him, but God had picked us out to be the ones who would know first hand what had happened. We got to spend time sharing meals and a few drinks with him after he was brought back from the dead. He gave us the job of getting his message out to the people and going public with the fact that he is the one who God has appointed to make the final assessment of everybody on earth, past and present. You don’t have to take our word alone on this; all the prophets back us up. Everyone who puts their trust in Jesus receives pardon for their sins on his say so.”

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Early on Sunday, the first day of the week, even before it began to get light, Mary Magdalene went to visit the tomb where Jesus had been buried. When she got there, she discovered that the stone had been removed and the tomb was open. She fled as fast as she could, and found Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus had been closest to. Mary blurted out, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have taken him.” So Peter and the other disciple set off on the double. They were both running at full tilt, but the other disciple was faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. He didn’t go in, but he bent down to peer inside and saw that the linen burial shroud had been unwrapped and left behind. Moments later, Simon Peter arrived, and barged straight into the tomb. He too, saw the unwrapped shroud lying there, and noticed that the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head was not with the rest of the shroud, but had been rolled up and left in a different spot. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, followed Peter in. They had not yet got their minds around the scriptures that said that Jesus must rise from the dead, but what he saw was enough to convince him that this was no grave robbery, but something far more extraordinary. The two men left, and headed off to their homes, but Mary stayed behind and stood weeping outside the tomb. A little later she bent down to look into the tomb, and through her tears she saw two angels dressed in white. They were sitting where the body of Jesus had previously been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?” She replied, “Someone has taken away my Lord, and I have got no idea where they might have put him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing behind her, but she didn’t realise it was him. Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” Mary assumed that he was the cemetery gardener, so she said to him, “Mister, if you have removed his body from the tomb, please tell me where you have put him, and I will take him off your hands.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She spun around and said, “Rabbouni!”, which is a Hebrew word meaning ‘Dear Teacher’. Jesus said to her, “Don’t try to hold on to me, because I have not yet fully risen to the Father. But go now, and tell my whole family of disciples that I am rising up to the one who conceived me and conceived you, to my God and your God.” So Mary Magdalene went straight to the disciples, and was the first to make the announcement, “I have seen the Lord!” She went on to fill them in on all that he had said to her. ©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

When the Sabbath rest day was over, three of the women – Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome – went and purchased the spices required to anoint the body of Jesus in the customary way. At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the first day of the week, they went to the tomb. On the way there they had been discussing whether they would be able to find anyone to shift the large boulder that sealed the entrance to the tomb, but when they arrived within sight of it, they could see that the massive stone had already been rolled aside. They went into the tomb and nearly jumped out of their skins when they found a young man, wearing a white robe, sitting on the right hand side. He said to them, “Don’t panic. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was executed. He has been raised up. You won’t find him here. Look, this is the spot where they laid his body. Off you go. Tell his disciples, and especially Peter, that Jesus is going on up to Galilee ahead of you. There, in Galilee, you will see him, just as he told you you would.” The women bolted out of the tomb and fled as fast as they could, shaking with fear and their heads spinning. They were so frightened that they didn’t breathe a word of it to anyone. ©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Let us lift up our hearts. We lift them to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise. It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God, for you have raised Jesus Christ from the dead and swallowed up death forever. You made the world and all that is in it; you made this day and we will be glad and rejoice in it! For this is the day your prophets testified about when you destroy the shroud of death and open the gates of salvation to all who believe. You sent your Son, Jesus, among us, anointed with your Holy Spirit and power to preach peace and heal all who were oppressed, When he was put to death and buried, you broke open the tomb and raised him on this day. Now we need never again search for him in the places of buried dreams, for he is alive and reaches out to us, wiping away our tears and calling us by name. Therefore with ..... ©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

We give thanks for your risen Son, Jesus, who was dead and buried, but who you raised on this day and who is alive forever, reaching out to us, wiping away our tears and calling us by name. ©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion) We give you all thanks and praise, O God, for you have raised Jesus Christ from the dead and swallowed up death forever. You made the world and all that is in it; you made this day and we will be glad and rejoice in it! For this is the day your prophets testified about when you destroy the shroud of death and open the gates of salvation to all who believe. You sent your Son, Jesus, among us, anointed with your Holy Spirit and power to preach peace and heal all who were oppressed, When he was put to death and buried, you broke open the tomb and raised him on this day. Now we need never again search for him in the places of buried dreams, for he is alive and reaches out to us, wiping away our tears and calling us by name. Therefore, with our hearts lifted high, we offer you thanks and praise at all times through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. ©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Jesus Christ died for our sins and has been raised by God as judge of the living and the dead. Everyone who trusts in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Sisters and Brothers,   your sins are forgiven;     be at peace. ©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Go now as God’s chosen witnesses to testify that Christ has been raised and that we are raised with him. Do not look for him among the dead, but be glad and rejoice in his salvation. And may God raise you from all that would entomb you; May Christ Jesus call you by name and go ahead of you; And may the Holy Spirit empower you for all that is good. We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,    In the name of Christ. Amen. ©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net