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[2714.94 --> 2722.12] We thank you that Sebastian, Sandy and their children are eligible now to apply for refugee status.
[2722.12 --> 2728.98] Bless this process and bless the refugee sponsorship committee and other groups within our church
[2728.98 --> 2733.28] denomination as they work through this process.
[2733.28 --> 2739.54] We pray that you relieve any stress that Sebastian and Sandy may have as they wait for things to
[2739.54 --> 2741.38] unfold.
[2741.38 --> 2745.60] Grant them your peace.
[2745.60 --> 2749.38] We continue to lift up the people of Ukraine to you.
[2749.38 --> 2753.34] Comfort those who mourn the loss of loved ones.
[2753.34 --> 2757.86] Watch over the millions of people who have been displaced.
[2757.86 --> 2764.14] Bless all who are involved in providing food and shelter to those who are displaced.
[2764.14 --> 2770.38] Where refugee sponsorship is an option for displaced people, we pray that governments around the
[2770.38 --> 2777.12] world may move quickly to process new immigrants.
[2777.12 --> 2784.26] Strengthen and encourage the Ukrainians who stayed behind to fight against the invading army.
[2784.26 --> 2789.32] Give them courage that they need to resist this invasion.
[2789.32 --> 2795.92] And ultimately Lord, we ask that the Russian leaders will have a change of heart and exit
[2795.92 --> 2798.16] the Ukraine.
[2798.16 --> 2804.90] We pray for an end to the bloodshed and the destruction and ask for lasting peace in this
[2804.90 --> 2806.90] region.
[2806.90 --> 2811.14] Father, we thank you for your word.
[2811.14 --> 2815.94] And as we read it and study it this morning, we ask that you bless Pastor Chris with insight
[2815.94 --> 2818.02] and wisdom.
[2818.02 --> 2823.68] Our prayer is that all who worship here today will meet Jesus through the power of the Holy
[2823.68 --> 2824.68] Spirit.
[2824.68 --> 2825.68] Amen.
[2828.16 --> 2845.72] Have a Bible handy.
[2845.72 --> 2851.32] I'm going to invite you to open it up to Mark 16.
[2851.32 --> 2859.92] We're going to read that together and spend some time looking at what Mark has to say there.
[2859.92 --> 2860.92] Amen.
[2860.92 --> 2875.54] With our Bibles open together, let's read the end of Mark.
[2875.54 --> 2875.92] Amen.
[2875.92 --> 2876.92] Amen.
[2876.92 --> 2877.92] Amen.
[2877.92 --> 2878.92] Amen.
[2878.92 --> 2879.92] Amen.
[2879.92 --> 2880.92] Amen.
[2880.92 --> 2881.92] Amen.
[2881.92 --> 2882.12] Amen.
[2882.12 --> 2884.12] Amen.
[2884.12 --> 2885.12] Amen.
[2885.22 --> 2885.94] Amen.
[2885.94 --> 2886.14] Amen.
[2886.14 --> 2887.24] Amen.
[2887.24 --> 2887.32] Amen.
[2887.38 --> 2889.30] Amen.
[2890.30 --> 2890.78] Amen.
[2890.78 --> 2894.84] Amen.
[2898.84 --> 2900.58] Good wind.
[2900.58 --> 2900.94] Amen.
[2900.94 --> 2901.96] Amen.
[2901.96 --> 2903.04] Amen.
[2903.04 --> 2903.12] Amen.
[2903.12 --> 2905.20] Amen.
[2905.40 --> 2907.48] Amen.
[2907.48 --> 2909.40] Amen.
[2909.40 --> 2910.36] Amen.
[2910.36 --> 2917.74] large had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white
[2917.74 --> 2925.98] robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. Don't be alarmed, he said. You are looking
[2925.98 --> 2936.02] for Jesus, the Nazarene, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they lay
[2936.02 --> 2944.08] him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see
[2944.08 --> 2954.60] him just as he told you. Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled the tomb. They said
[2954.60 --> 2960.08] nothing to anyone because they were afraid. This is the word of the Lord.
[2966.02 --> 2976.04] Now, I don't know how much you may have experienced this or how well you've been able to put your finger
[2976.04 --> 2987.32] on it, but something has changed. Something is different. Now, before you jump to conclusions
[2987.32 --> 2991.98] and assume that you know what I'm talking about here, right, I'm not just talking about the tomb of
[2991.98 --> 2999.92] Jesus being empty, right, as if we can really just talk about the empty tomb, right? There's really no
[2999.92 --> 3004.50] way to overstate the impact and the meaning of the resurrection, and we'll come back to that.
[3005.18 --> 3015.72] But right now, I am talking about something else. Something in the air. Something has changed,
[3015.72 --> 3021.30] and I bet for most of us, we can feel it more than we can describe it.
[3024.04 --> 3031.40] We live in the change. We live this change more than we can define it.
[3033.08 --> 3037.84] But if you are a Christian and you're here with us this morning, in person or online,
[3038.28 --> 3045.58] maybe you feel it just a little bit heavier in moments like this, right? As the gather for Easter
[3045.58 --> 3051.88] worship and the weight of glory settles just a little bit heavier on our shoulders and in our
[3051.88 --> 3058.88] hearts. But, and here's what we're beginning to see, right, that as the same time as our hearts and
[3058.88 --> 3067.04] minds are being pulled up in worship, it seems that our feet are being pulled under the sinking sand of
[3067.04 --> 3074.18] the ground, right? Our imaginations are being stretched out towards the transcendent, even as the frame below
[3074.18 --> 3084.36] holds us back. Because you see, it used to be easier, or at least it used to be more clear,
[3085.56 --> 3091.44] right? It used to be simpler. As a world, as a culture, we used to know what was up and what was
[3091.44 --> 3097.28] down, right? The lines used to be drawn more clearly. We knew what was sacred and we knew what was
[3097.28 --> 3103.94] secular, right? It used to be that we had a religious sphere and a public sphere, even if there
[3103.94 --> 3109.46] was a few outliers and some crossover. The basic definitions that function in our world together
[3109.46 --> 3115.14] were clear. You had faith and you had fact, right? And whether you saw them in agreement or in a
[3115.14 --> 3122.40] juxtaposition, the categories held fast. Now, maybe some of you still see the world like that,
[3122.40 --> 3128.94] right? It's a sort of binary. It's either or. It's one or the other. But for most of us living today in
[3128.94 --> 3139.14] the 21st century western world, something has changed. Now, if you're under 40, you have a sense
[3139.14 --> 3147.08] of what I'm talking about and maybe you can remember the loss. If you're under 30, you only know that sense
[3147.08 --> 3153.56] as somebody else's history. And if you're under 20, you can't imagine the world any different
[3153.56 --> 3160.60] because this is all you know, right? The once neat categories of faith and fact have blurred and have
[3160.60 --> 3168.44] blended what was once either or exists now in the struggle of both and, of yes and everything and no
[3168.44 --> 3177.72] and nothing all at the same time. And maybe that's the best way to describe the change, right? At the exact
[3177.72 --> 3187.50] time that I know this or that thing to be true, right then I know it to be impossible, right? My heart
[3187.50 --> 3194.64] longs for something more. It longs for eternity, for transcendence, for something bigger and beyond me. And yet,
[3194.64 --> 3199.96] at exactly the same time that that longing exists in me, the world feels closed.
[3202.62 --> 3210.60] In the day-to-day of life and faith, the system is small. It's too small, really. Everything I could
[3210.60 --> 3217.20] ever need is a DM or a text or a tweet away, right? I can skip the dishes, I can get Uber Eats, I can
[3217.20 --> 3221.32] Google or Amazon it, and it can be at my door within 12 hours if I have a Prime account.
[3221.32 --> 3227.30] But somehow, my heart knows that that's not enough.
[3229.30 --> 3239.30] And yet, even as I feel the haunting, right? This haunting for more, like a spectral affection just
[3239.30 --> 3245.38] beyond my reach, slipping palpably through my fingers. Even as I feel that, my skepticism
[3245.38 --> 3253.96] wells up and it pulls me firmly back to the ground. In my head, I want what philosophers used to call
[3253.96 --> 3264.00] foundational certitude, but my heart refuses to land. And it's into this sort of ephemeral