Newspapers / The Future Outlook (Greensboro, … / March 27, 1970, edition 1 / Page 2
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THE FUTURE J. F. JOHNSON MISS EMMA P. JOHNSON. L. A. WISE OUTLOOK .Editor & Publisher News Reporter Staff Photographer Make all checks payable to and mall to: THE FUTURE OUTLOOK P. 0. BOX 20SS1? GREENSBORO. N. C. 27420 PHONE 273-1758 Second Class Postage Paid at Greensboro, N. C. 10c Per Copy Published Weekly $6.00 Per Year Carter As we are in the midst of the Spring season, we are looking forward to the most glorious occasion of the year ? Easter. Easter is determined by certain calendar rules, there fore, it does not fall on the same date every year. Jesus Christ was crucified on the day marking the feast of the Jewish Passover, and his resurrection occurred the third day after his death. The early Christians attempted to celebrate each year on the actual anniversary date, but the Jewish calendar could not be made to agree with the later Roman calendar. As a result the Christians decided to fix Easter as the first Sunday after March 21. Should the full moon fall on that Sunday, Easter is observed the following Sunday. The date of the full moon which decides Easter is figured according to certain calendar rules and may differ slightly from the astronomical dates of the full moon. This method of determining Easter was accepted by the early Christians and is still followed by the Christians of today. To the early Christians, Easter was considered the greatest festival of the church year. In the early days, the converts were baptized on Easter Sunday and the following week wore white robes as a sign of purity. These ceremonies are still preserved by the Orthodox churches of Russia and the Balkans. Good Friday, the Friday before Easter and the an niversary of the crucifixion, is observed with great sol emnity by all Christians. The forty days of fasting called Lent, ends at noon the following day, known as Holy Saturday. On Easter Sunday, which notes the Resurrection of Christ, many Christians and so-called Christians will gather at churches to witness Christ's Resurrection at early Sunday morning worship and such religious pro grams will be carried out throughout the day. Some will tend to decorate the graves of their loved ones. On Easter Sunday night, many Sunday School pupils | will be presenting programs symbolizing Easter. Many sightseers and bystanders will be in the midst of gay entertainment which may end in tragic mishaps. Some will be attending baseball games, visiting friends and relatives or joy-riding. Whatever the activity, it is important to be extremely careful. Easter Monday will be celebrated mostly by Easter egg hunts given for children by different organizations and churches in the city. With the children out of school for the holiday there will be many baseball games, fish ing, dancing, and other activities. The origin of Easter celebrations at its early begin ning has accumulated many activities in the celebration of this glorious occasion. We should all focus on one thought ? "The Risen Christ," who is our Saviour. Go to church Sunday ! A JOVOUS EASTER I TO YOU and your LOVED ONES SANITARY BARBER SHOP 1404 E. Market St. Phone 272-7458 This Weed's Sunday School Lesson BEGINNING WHERE YOU ABE In one of Thomas B. Cos tain's historical novels, a wealthy but aging merchant was concerned about what would become of his fortune and business when he died. His only son had no tal ent except for spending money, and in those days women were not supposed to have any sense for practical affairs. In great distress, he said to his daughter, "I wish I could live forever so that I could continue to provide for you." Alas, neither he nor any other man can avoid the necessity of eventually turning his affairs over to another gen eration. Indeed, the basic fact we hu mans must come to terms with is the fact of our mortality. No matter how essential we consid er ourselves to our families and communities, when the call comes, we must lay down our tasks. No matter what great projects we have in hand, when the moment comes, we must let them go. Rich and poor, great and smaU, world figures and ordinary people ? all alike live under sentence of death. In fact, in one sense we do not begin to live effectively until we accept the transience and uncertainty of life. As we approach another Eas ter, we must set it in the con text of this universal experi ence of death. Christian faith asserts that in the resurrection Christ conquered our final ene my, the grave and death. SEARCHING THE SCBIPTURES The Scripture for this lesson is Job 14; Matthew 28; 1 Cor inthians 15. Selected verses are printed below. Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20 1 Now after the sabbath, to ward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulchre. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord de scended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his rai ment white as snow. 4 And for (ear of him the guards trem bled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell hi* disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is go ing before you to Galilee; there you will see him. Lo, 1 have told you." 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Hail.' And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me." 16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the moun tain to which Jesus had direct ed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them,"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and o f the Son and of the' Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." Memory Selection: Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. ?1 Corinthians 15:20 EXPLORING THE QUESTIONS Being an honest and realistic book, the Bible does not evade the tragic aspects of life. In its pages, people face broken dreams and disappointed hopes; they ex perience cruelty; they sin and are punished. They also die. The Scriptures have much to say about death. The passages se lected for our study today are examples. Chapter 14 of Job is beautiful poetry, but its message is stark and grim. It is a picture of our human condition if we believe death to be the ena. Like a shadow when the sun sets, man ceases to be. There is hope for a tree. It may be cut down, but "at the scent of water" its roots send forth new shoots. But when man dies, "he rises not again." "If a man die, shall he live again?" the poet asks. The an swer is plainly, No. Like a rock removed from its place, or like soil carried away by a flood, he is destroyed. Aside from the Christian hope, what more can be said? If we reject the Easter story, this is our situation. Against this dark picture, Mat thew sets his account of the Resurrection. Note the simli city and tenderness of the nar rative. The two Marys visit the tomb early Sunday morning. They are accosted by the angel and then by Jesus. The authori ties bribe the guards to falsify what happened. The eleven dis ciples meet Jesus in Galilee, and he gives them final Instruc tions as to their mission. That is all, but the story is filled with light and Joy. Its very di rectness and lack of adornment carry conviction. From the very beginning the early church placed the Resur rection at the center of its mes sage. Fifty days after Easter in the city of Jerusalem itself Pe ter was proclaiming that God had raised Jesus from the dead. (Acts 2:24) Less than a quarter century after Calvary, Paul, in a letter to the Christians at Corinth, gave us our earliest written ac count of the Resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15) He says he "re ceived" his information, pre sumably on his first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion. (Acts 9:26-30) He lists five appearances, some of which we can identify with those describ ed in the Gospels. The appear ances to five hundred brethren and to James are additional in formation. We should note that he regarded his own meeting with Christ on the Damascus road as being of the game order as those that Immediately fol lowed the Crucifixion. Contemporary readers will b? particularly interested in Faul'i argument that the Resurrection ?s essential to Christian faith and in his distinction between the ^natural and the spiritual The resurrection of Jesus rais es more questions than can be anawered. Human language can not exhaust the depth* of the divine mystery. Such a confession does not ex cuse us from attempting to un derstand with our minds the meaning of the Resurrection for our lives. But when we have considered every explanation ar gument, and counterargument, it is still required of us that we make a commitment in faith to the risen Lord. The basic question, is of course, Is death the end? Must we determine the value of life on the basis of our three score years and ten? This problem was a concern of many of the psalmists. What are we to thinir of a world where we often see the righteous suffer while the evil enjoy the fruits of their wrongdoing? What are the grounds for be lieving that Jesus rose from the dead? Are immortality and resur rection the same? Is eternal promised to everyone, or is it a gift of God only to the right eous? What does the Resurrection tell us about the character of God? Does believing or not believ ing in life after death mnlro any difference in the way we live each day? FINDING HELP with YOUR QUESTIONS If we are to understand the meaning and significance of Je sus' resurrection for our faith, we need first to examine several basic aspects of what it to believe in this doctrine. 1. Belief in the Resurrection is an act of faith. Here as else where God treats us as free men. In one of his parables, Jesui told of a wealthy but self-cen tered man who died and found himself in torment. He implored Father Abraham to send the beggar Lazarus to his five broth ers to warn them to change their ways. Abraham replied, "If they do not hear Moses unit prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one rise from the dead." 2. Nevertheless, the early church regarded the resurrec tion of Christ as the central item in its message. Peter preached about the resurrected Christ in Jerusalem as Paul did in Athens. 3. We have said that belief in the Resurrection is an item o f faith rather than of reason. How ever, this statement does not mean that such belief is irra tional. There are grounds for holding this faith. 4. Ultimately, faith in the Res urrection rests upon the char acter of God. It is because we believe that God has created us in his own image for fellowship and has called us to be his peo ple that we believe the righteous are raised from the dead. The Great Commission The Gospel of Matthew ends (Continued on Page >)
The Future Outlook (Greensboro, N.C.)
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March 27, 1970, edition 1
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