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Shepherd United Methodist Church added a... - Shepherd United Methodist Church | Facebook

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Shepherd United Methodist Church added a new photo.

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Spaghetti Supper and Silent Auction to be held April 9

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A Spaghetti Supper and Silent Auction will be held inside the Shepherd United Methodist Church on Saturday, April 9, 2016 from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. The dinner will benefit Zachary Frede...

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An Idea contributed by Jon Morgan in a Crowdsourced Feedback Community hosted by IdeaScale.com

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It Is Hard to Explain

Since the first days of faith in Jesus, believers have struggled to explain the "event" we know as the resurrection of Jesus. Early Christian writers, especially in the 400's, compared the resurrection of Jesus to natural phenomena. Resurrection is like a butterfly coming out of its cocoon or like a lily growing from what appears to be a dead bulb. These early Christian writers tried to make the resurrection look reasonable, as something that occurs with butterflies and flowers. Resurrection is like spring.

In some respects, these attempts gave us wonderful symbols for Easter. Butterflies, Easter lilies, and eggs, all spring from these ancient attempts to explain what God has done for Jesus Christ. In other respects, these attempts create all kinds of havoc. The lily bulb is not dead. Neither is what's in the cocoon or egg. Life is hidden, and is still life. Not so with Jesus, who truly died.

You and I live in an age of reason, so many of the accounts of the disciples seeing the risen Christ are taken by many with a grain of salt. Some wonder whether the disciples experienced a group delusion. After all, even the accounts in the Bible can leave us confused. For instance:

$1v Mary does not recognize Jesus until he calls her by name.

$1v Jesus enters a room through a locked door. The disciples do not recognize him until he shows them his hands and side.

$1v Those who travel the road to Emmaus do not recognize it is Jesus walking with them until he breaks the bread. He then disappears in an instant.

$1v Jesus prepares a breakfast of fish on the shore, and Peter is asked three times, "Do you love me?"

All these accounts hope to tell us a reality experienced by the followers of Jesus three days after his death. They experienced Jesus alive and in their midst. They saw with their own eyes the hands and feet of Jesus. They heard with their ears his voice calling them by name or giving them peace. There is no logic to their experience. And if logic is what we must have, then these stories of Jesus following his death are just that, fantastic stories.

What we do know, though, is that there are different ways of knowing. Love cannot be proven, yet most of us are convinced it is real. Forgiveness cannot be proven either, yet when we experience it we are so very grateful. Genuine generosity cannot be distinguished from those who give with other motives. Like it or not, most of us live with faith in something.

Perhaps this is one way we need to see the resurrection stories of Jesus coming to, appearing to, and talking with disciples. The followers of Jesus experienced something, and they try to tell us about it. They know a presence, and they try to share it. They sense Jesus is with them. They are spurred to act on that awareness and share it with others. They begin to share the good news that Jesus is the Christ and he is alive. He is with us now and always.

As for those arguments from long ago that compared what God did for Jesus to butterflies, they can only go so far. The real "proof" of the resurrection of Jesus is what is in our own hearts, and what others believed across the generations. We sense a love we can hardly fathom. We sense a presence we know is real. We, too, are wrapped up into the story of God's love for the world, shown to us in Jesus, who is the Christ. Christ is risen! Alleluia!

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Welcome to Shepherd United Methodist Church

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It Is Hard to Explain Since the first days of faith in Jesus, believers have struggled to explain the "event" we know as the resurrection of Jesus. Early Christian writers, especially in the 400's, compared the resurrection of Jesus to natural phenomena.