Love Chapel Hill

Easter Sunday --- Matthew 28:1-10

It’s pretty weird now, isn’t it? So much of the wold is “celebrating” Christ’s triumph over death today away from the church. We read about the stone that was rolled away behind doors that have been closed for weeks. What is Easter today without the community celebration? The joining hands and the singing as one? What can the Gospels tell us about conquering the grave when so many have died and so many more have had their lives turned upside down? Be careful in dismissing a familiar story. The Word has so much to say in surprising new ways, and that’s even more true today. We don’t deny today’s reality. But we do have a defiant hope in the Resurrection and redemption that Christ brought in his disciple’s darkest hour and still brings today in a chaotic world. His is Risen. He is Risen Indeed!

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Holy Week --- Matthew 21:1-11

Crowds. Celebration. The energy of the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. It's Palm Sunday and we're feeling anything but that during this time of isolation. But it's important to note that Jesus wasn't on his way to victory over his enemies, and the people crying "Hosanna" would soon demand the release of a criminal rather than let Jesus escape Roman custody. This is Jesus. Riding a symbol of peace into chaos. We're in the midst of a different kind of chaos, but we're worshiping the same Jesus. That Jesus meets the desperate where they are and offers hope and comfort. He wasn't what people expected as a Messiah then. And he can redeem our own chaos in unexpected ways, too.

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One Prayer --- John 17:24-26

Where do you feel the Presence of God? Now more than ever its important to understand that the Presence isn't something you feel in one gathering place for an hour or so on Sunday. Jesus closes his longest recorded prayer wanting us to know him so that in turn, he can be with us. That's where the Presence is today. We bring it wherever we go. So while we may feel more separated during this time, nothing can separate from the love of God. And we can still share that with our communities even the doors of the Varsity are shut for a while. This week, we also welcome back worship in song from our many talented musicians!

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One Prayer --- John 17:20-23

It's been a difficult week. Our day-to-day lives have been rocked by the evolving recommendations and restrictions attempting to control the spreading of this pandemic. How can we be one church when we're more separated now than we've ever been in our decade of operation? Take heart that we absolutely can be, even in these uncertain times. Matt shares how we can be One in Him, One in prayer, and One in love. Plus we remain called to serve the community more than ever. Check out the below resources do discover how you can continue to love this region with the heart of Jesus!

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One Prayer --- John 17:13-19

Wait, wasn't church canceled? Absolutely not! We've suspended our gatherings for at least this week and the next, but make no mistake: We are a church who are mobilizing for our community. We've gone digital today, but not out of fear. We're doing our part to protect our more vulnerable populations. And we're coming together to help our community during this crisis. This message will cover a multitude of resources and missions we are offering to continue to be the light on the Hill and embody our name loader than ever. We may not be in the theater for now, but today we're affirming that the church is its people and not its weekly gathering space!

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One Prayer --- John 17:2-12

We continue our series looking at Jesus's prayer offered during the last night with his disciples. The words of Christ to the Father help teach us about the exercise of prayer and what it is meant to do to for us. Jesus describes eternal life as knowing the Divine, and that it begins here in this life and not after death. To know God is to make space for God. In emptying ourselves and making that space we, like Jesus, can be both humbled and glorified by God's presence. Join us in the silences in this message and use them to draw closer to God.

One Prayer --- John 17:1-5

Lent is here! We're shifting our focus during this season to the prayer Jesus offers on his last night with his disciples. It's a beautiful passage in John's Gospel that serves as a kind of benediction to Jesus's earthly ministry before the crucification. Jesus acknowledges that now the time has come for the fulfillment of his coming: not to be crowned king over the Israelites in defiance of the Roman empire, but to be executed at the will of his own people. Like Jesus, we turn our attention to the cross now. We acknowledge its transformation from a symbol of torture and shame to one of hope and redemption, but not before we acknowledge the suffering it would take to redeem our broken world.

Jesus People --- John 12:1-11

This is the last Sunday before the season of Lent, so we appropriately find ourselves at the turning point of John's Gospel before the Passion. Here, the sister of the formerly dead Lazarus upends a year's wages of perfume onto the feet of Jesus. Mary's act of worship is stunning; both to those in the room and to us reading about it. We're tempted to criticize the extravagance like Judas does, despite his motives. But take a look harder at where the cost actually lies. That perfume was meant to anoint the dead and Jesus well knows where he will be within a week. Nothing we can give can compare with the enormity of what Jesus gave. And when we acknowledge that, we find our own ways to anoint the feet of our Savior. But we also have to be prepared to get up and follow the footsteps they leave.

Jesus People --- Mark 10:46-52

Almost a millennium and a half after Joshua and the people of Israel put their trust in God to bring down the walls of Jericho, we find ourselves in the historic city again. The echos of those broken walls can be heard here in the healing of Bartimaeus the blind man. This time, though, it was the faith of a desperate beggar that tear through walls put in place by the very society that grew from Joshua and his armies. And unfortunately his condition is still a familiar one to us all these centuries later. Remember that Christ sought out the marginalized like Bartimaeus while Jesus's own followers scorned him. Most of all, remember that you yourself are the Bartimaeus in this story. You understand that your own salvation is completely dependent on Jesus's mercy.

Jesus People --- John 3:1-21

QUICK NOTE: We had power issues with our recorder, so there's a short but noticeable gap in the beginning as we resolved them.

Now we move from borderline scandalous Jesus quotes into one containing the most recognizable Bible verse in our culture. Don't get too comfortable, though.

One night, one of the highest scriptural authorities in the region acts on his curiosity and open mind. He has a conversation with the most dangerous man to his order. We may be able to recite what Jesus says to him with ease, but keep in mind that Nicodemus is an expert whose entire expertise is being turned upside down. And the brief accounts we get about this conflicted pharisee show a man newly committed to the man his peers execute as a blasphemer. Take heart that the skeptic's pace toward Christ is less important than the path they're on. And be challenged that even the most practiced authority on the Word can learn something new.