DayBreaks for the Week of 3/18/24 – Living in the Resurrection

From the DayBreaks archive, 2015:

John 11:17-25 – When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the people had come to pay their respects and console Martha and Mary on their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”  Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”  “Yes,” Martha said, “when everyone else rises, on resurrection day.”  Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.”

This past week was not a really good one for several members of our church.  Two families lost loved ones from their extended family.  The cold, bony fingers of death were a little too close to home this past week.  I pray that they’ll be gone for some period of time.  Both deaths were rather sudden, and relatively unexpected.  But, when the Lord decides that our time is up, we must answer and we must go – no matter whether we are male or female, young or old, rich or poor, happy or sad – believer or unbeliever alike. 

I think that John 11 is my favorite chapter in the Bible.  The theological truths are profound, the human drama unrivaled, the full gamut of human experience, from life, to death, to resurrection, and the surprise of new life are on display.  Jesus’ compassion and his fury at death are equally visceral.  Jesus had already raised other people from the dead by the time the story of Lazarus takes place.  But Martha, bless her heart, still somewhat rebukes the Lord for dilly-dallying around instead of coming at first word of Lazarus’ illness, and then she confesses, when asked, that she believes he will rise again in the resurrection.  Was she being coy – perhaps hoping that Jesus would raise him?  I don’t think so.  I think she had no such expectation.  When confronted with death we are forced to become realists.  Death is as real as real as it gets.  That is, unless Jesus is there.

Jesus tells her an amazing truth: I AM the resurrection and the life….  He doesn’t say, “I will be responsible for bringing the resurrection someday.”  No, He’s far more than the power behind the resurrection.  He IS the resurrection.  The Resurrection was standing in their midst, eating with them, laughing with them, weeping with them, teaching them, living for them, dying for them, and then living again.

F. B. Maurice said that this story made him very sad.  How sad it is, he observed, that after 2000 years, the church has gotten most Christians only to the point to which the Pharisees got Martha: resurrection in the future, resurrection a week from some Tuesday.  Only a handful have ever gotten past that point and made the leap of faith that Jesus got Martha to make: the leap to resurrection now – to resurrection as the fundamental mystery of creation finally manifest in his own flesh.

Will we live in the resurrected body in the future?  Yes.  All, Jesus says, who believe in him, will live again.  But will we live in the power of the resurrection NOW?  Will we continue to be afraid, fearful and timid creatures with no power, or will we live in Jesus now?  (It’s the same as living in the Resurrection, since He is the resurrection!)  Jesus had no fear – he feared nothing and no one because He knew what it meant to be the Resurrection.  Nothing could hold him, nothing could stop him, nothing can ever diminish him.  May we learn the secret of living in the resurrection each day for the rest of our lives!

PRAYER: Fill us, Lord, with Your glorious resurrection power today and every day throughout eternity!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2024 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for the Week of 11/06/23: Where God Resurrects Dead Things

From the DayBreaks archive: Once again, confession time.  But first, a caveat: I’m going to tell you about something I’ve not done for a long, long time.  Are you ready?  I used to read Stephen King’s books.  I was a fan of his writing.  I loved the suspense and strange twists that he’d bring into play.  I also loved the cartoon strip, “The Far Side” and “Calvin and Hobbs”, and I still love “Dilbert”.  They are all a bit off the wall, and helped to take me to unexpected places – some of which were healthier than others.  But one of my all-time favorite Stephen King books was “Pet Sematary” (yes, that’s how it was spelled).  It was about a strange place out in a twisted wood behind a farm where dead things would come back to life once they were buried there – in a little pet cemetery.  I very seldom read any book more than once – but I did that one.  Of course, in true Stephen King style, the pets that came back weren’t quite like they had been previously – they were changed, and not for the better.  I won’t tell you the rest of the story…let your imagination work on it, if you wish.  

But the concept was intriguing.  As many of you know, it’s been just over 10 months since my dog, Ramses, died.  How I wish that there were a real pet cemetery where we could have taken him and gotten him back in a few hours – breathing, twisting, wagging, and playing as he had before.  But I don’t know of a pet cemetery like that.  Just last night as I was on a retreat, I told a fellow pastor about my father’s passing over 6 years ago – and I cried.  I miss him.

It is interesting that many times in scripture, we find things that were dead coming back to life.  It may have been hope that died, faith that died, trust that died, or it may have been someone that died.  Several times in the Bible, when something dies and it is going to be brought back to life, a cave is involved.  Elijah, after his trust and faith died, ran to the cave on Mt. Horeb where his hope was reborn.  David, running from Saul in fear, feeling like a failure after having been anointed, only to be chased for years by Saul who still sat on the throne, spent years in a cave regaining his hope and having God grow his trust.  Lazarus went into the cave.  Jesus went into the cave.  But none of them stayed there.  Why?  Because caves are the place where God resurrects dead things.

Not every cave is made out of rock.  Some are made out of the shambles of our hollowed-out spirits, marriages, families, and collapsed dreams.  Some are made of the demons of guilt, shame, or abuse.  Sometimes it seems as if the entry to the cave through which we entered has been sealed off by all the debris of our lives, and that we will die – alone and cold – in the hard, rocky darkness.  But then something happens.  A voice from the other side of the cave or the other side of the collapsed tangle of trees calls out to us, “Galen!  Come forth!”  And that which was dead breathes again by the grace and miraculous power of God. 

Life can, and is, a very, very long, hard, cold cave.  I know people who have lived in a cave of some kind of suffering and despair virtually every minute of their lives.  I don’t know how they do it.  But I do know that God spoke to Elijah in a cave, He led David out of the cave to the throne of Israel, He called Lazarus out of the clammy darkness, and He brought Jesus forth gloriously – never to die again. 

If you’re in a cave right now, rejoice.  You may be about to see and hear God speak life into you again.  And you’re in VERY good company.

John 11:38-44 – Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”  So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”  When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’”

PRAYER: I am so grateful that you are a God who does amazing, impossible things – even in the darkest of times in our lives!  Glory to You now and forever! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for 4/12/23 – Looking for the Wrong Things

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They went in but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men stood by them in dazzling clothes. So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men. – Lk. 24.1-6

I don’t know about you, but for some reason, I can’t get enough of the passion story this year. I think that’s a good thing – the things we contemplate during “holy week” deserve to be contemplated daily throughout our lifetimes!

This past Sunday, the preacher pointed out something that I’d not really thought much about before. It’s not rocket science, but it is easy to miss.

The women came to the tomb that morning to complete the burial process that had been interrupted by the imminent arrival of the Sabbath. They brought spices and ointments to finish the gruesome task of burying their dead friend, Jesus.

But as the arrived at the scene, a dazzling vision assailed them: two men asking them a very pointed question: Why are you seeking the living among the dead?

You see, they had come to the tomb looking for a dead man, not a living God. They were simply looking for the wrong thing!

How often in my life have I looked for the wrong thing! Instead of looking for Jesus and his wisdom, I look for my own. Instead of looking at how I can glorify him, I look to see how I can glorify myself. Instead of looking for God’s way, I look for the easy way.

And, how often do I look for a dead Jesus instead of a living, breathing forevermore all-powerful Savior? I think the words of those two “men” could well have been meant for all of us.

Let’s spend more time looking for the living power and presence of the glorified Christ in our lives instead of pursuing dead things.

PRAYER: Jesus, let us see you this day in each face, hear you in each breeze, glimpse your risen glory in the brilliance of the sunlight! Let us never seek the living among the dead! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple, all rights reserved.

DayBreaks for 4/11/23: The Significance of the Napkin

Then, following him, Simon Peter came also. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. The wrapping that had been on His head was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a separate place by itself. The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, then entered the tomb, saw, and believed. – John 20:6-8

God bless Peter and John! Without their boldness to crash their way into the tomb, we would have missed this sort of detail!

There is debate about the condition of the linen cloths. Some suggest that they were still in the shape of a body, but were empty…as if the body of the deceased had passed right through the fabric. Others think they were just piled up on the floor. But I’m getting distracted, because whatever the condition of the cloths was, it is the napkin that is far more interesting!

The napkin, we are told, was “folded up”. It wasn’t just cast aside in a separate heap on the flood, but had been folded. What was the meaning of that for Peter and John, and does it have any relevance for us today? I think it is mind-blowing!!!

In Jewish culture, when the master and his family would sit down for a meal, the servants waited on them. Here’s the fascinating point of cultural relevance: if the master was done eating, he would simply wad the napkin up and let it fall to the floor or place it wadded up on the table. But, if the master folded the napkin, it sent a very specific message to the servants. It meant “I’m coming back. I’m not done.”

When Peter and John saw the folded napkin, it says that John “believed”. What did he believe? I think it was the folded napkin that told him, “I’m coming back. I’m not done!” Perhaps it was that simple sign that caused John to remember the words of Jesus that he was “coming back” from the dead. And he believed.

What does it mean for us today? It also means that Jesus isn’t finished. He’s coming back. And if we are wise, we will be as the servants prepared for the return of the master. Jesus wasn’t finished in the tomb and he’s not finished in the world.

Let’s anticipate his return with great expectation and excitement!

PRAYER: Jesus, thank you that you are coming back and for giving us this simple reminder of your return. Thank you for not being finished with us, for not washing your hands of this mess called humanity. Thank you that you were not “finished” forever in the tomb! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2023 by Galen C. Dalrymple, all rights reserved.

DayBreaks for the Week of 4/25/22 – The Day the World Grew Dangerous

Christianity is unlike any other religion for many reasons.  First, it’s not a religion – it’s about an intimate relationship with God, but we’ll not go into all the other differences, except to note that unlike other religions, Christianity can trace its origin to one particular event in one moment on a single day in history: the resurrection. 

When Jesus appears to the women at the tomb, he is very nonchalant in the Greek when he said, “Greetings!”  It’s as close as you could come to saying something so ordinary, like: “Hi!  How are you doing?  Nice day, isn’t it?”  Almost as if Jesus were saying, “You were expecting this, right?  I told you I’d do this!”

John Ortberg wrote about it in Who Is This Man?: Sunday changed everything, but not in the way many people think.  From our point of view 2000 years later, many people think of Easter as a comforting story that says, ‘Spring is coming.  Flowers are blooming.  Life is eternal.  Everything is going to work out.’  But the response to the resurrection on the first Easter in the Gospels consistently includes fear.  In fact, people were more afraid after the resurrection than they were before.  And none of the gospel accounts have Jesus or the angels saying, ‘Now you don’t have to worry about dying anymore.

“What Jesus does say to his followers is that there is work to be done.  In effect, ‘The cross didn’t stick.  Their plan to stop my movement didn’t work.  It’s going to go on.  Matter of fact, my plan to love even  your enemies, to be willing to sacrifice, suffer, and even die for the sake of love has been vindicated by my Father.”

“They’re really going to be ticked off now.  Pilate and the chief priests have already plotted to squelch this news.  They are furious.  They are desperate.  I’ve leaving now.  So you go, you women, you disciples.  Tell them all that the cross failed, Caesar failed, Pilate failed, the chief priests failed.  Now they have you to contend with.”

Ortberg continues: “On Sunday their lives didn’t get safer; their lives got a lot more dangerous.  What got released on Sunday was not comfort.  Also, what got released on Sunday was not assurance about life after death.” 

“What got released on Sunday was hope.  Not hope that life would turn out well.  Not even hope that there will be life after death.  Hope that called people to die: die to selfishness and sin and fear and greed, die to the lesser life of a lesser self so that a greater self might be born.  And many people did.”

What did you celebrate a couple weeks ago?  It isn’t wrong to celebrate the resurrection.  But did you also consider what it means – what the implications are for the rest of your temporal life?  I doubt few of us gave that much thought, but we should.  It was the day the world became dangerous if you wear the name “Christian.” 

PRAYER: Sometimes in our celebrations we forget the seriousness of our calling, Lord.  Let us not fear what man can do to us, but boldly proclaim the resurrection!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for 4/11/22 – One Moment in History

DayBreaks for the Week of 4/11/22 – One Moment in History

Pretend for a moment that you were in possession of a time machine.  If you could pick one moment out of all recorded history to go back and see, what would you choose?  In a newspaper recently, journalists had voted on the greatest story of the 20th century.  According to one paper I saw, they chose the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima as the biggest story of the century.  It certainly is worthy of strong consideration.  I remember the stunned silence (even outdoors!!) on the day that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon and the first moonwalk took place.  It was as if nothing, not even the wind, dared to move that afternoon.

Still, all things considered, I think that I’d probably pick the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the event I’d most like to observe.  You see, no human eyes were witness to it, so no one knows what it looked like.  There was no one to watch as God came back to life, except God Himself. 

I don’t think that I would want to see the crucifixion.  It would be too painful to watch knowing that it was my fault that it was happening.  We want to get past the ugliness, horror and bloodiness of Calvary in our rush to get to the Resurrection Morning, don’t we?  But we can’t afford to do that.  If we do, we will miss the most amazing lesson in all of human history: that the God of heaven, who hates sin with all His heart, loves His creation even more than He hates sin and proved it on the cross.  That, if anything, is the lesson of Calvary.  It is a lesson we need to be reminded of every time we get the chance. 

Don’t rush past Calvary on your way to sunrise services.  Stop and look long and hard at the price that was paid for your sin and for mine.  It wasn’t cheap – God’s grace is anything but cheap.  The price wasn’t paid on Resurrection morning, but on the Friday before.  That is where the atoning was done, that is where the blood of the Lamb was spilled and when it was sprinkled on the altar.  The Resurrection was merely the joyous cosmic shout of God proclaiming the victory that was won on the Friday before! 

The cross – good Friday – is where we need to stop and ponder our lives – and the God who could possibly love us so much. 

PRAYER: Let us ponder and weep for our sin and what it cost our God to make it right. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for 2/23/22 – The Seeds of Resurrection

Trevor Beeson stood at the high altar of Westminster Abbey to celebrate the marriage of his daughter, Catharine, to Anthony, aged twenty-three. Nine months later he stood before the same altar for Anthony’s funeral, who was killed when his car ran into a wall in East London. Four months later, Trevor he returned once more to the altar beside the coffin of his friend and hero Earl Mountbatten, who died when his fishing boat was blown to pieces by Irish terrorists.

 Reflecting on the experience, he said he could not blame God for these senseless tragedies. He wrote: “I should find it impossible to believe in, and worship, a God who arranged for the great servants of the community to be blown up on their holidays and who deliberately turned a young man’s car into a brick wall…This is not the God of love whose ways are revealed in the Bible and supremely in the life of Jesus Christ.”

Beeson found two insights that helped him to cope with his tragedies and to look beyond them: “The first is that, although God is not responsible for causing tragedy, he is not a detached observer of our suffering. On the contrary, he is immersed in it with us, sharing to the full our particular grief and pain. This is the fundamental significance of the cross.”

Second, although our natural inclination is to ask, “Why did it happen?” Beeson discovered a far more important question: “What are we going to make of it?  Every tragedy contains within it the seeds of resurrection.”

Are those who experience innocent suffering worse than anyone else?  Of course not.  Jesus was quite clear about that – suffering can happen to anyone – anytime.   

But is there a connection between innocent suffering and human action?  Of course, there is, and if we fail to change harmful ways in which we may be living, we may fall victim to certain types of suffering as a result. 

What does Jesus offer us when we experience this kind of suffering? The power of God to hold us firm, to give us strength, and to see us through.  And he holds out the hope for the “third day” resurrection!

PRAYER: Help us to learn from the tragedies and suffering that befalls us, Lord, and to see the seeds of resurrection in each situation!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 1/10/22 – A Sobering Reality

I recently lost one of my best friends to death and a cousin. I have more who are teetering on the very brink and will surely pass soon. We need to take such matters to heart.

“Of all the books written and all the sermons preached about death, none has come from firsthand experience.  Yes, not one of us has intellectual doubts about death’s invincibility.  The mute testimony of our ancestors tells us that to deny that death will one day come is literally fantastic.  Nevertheless, among believers, profound consciousness of death is a rarity.  For some, the veil between present reality and eternity is the shroud of silence – death is simply the last disease waiting to be conquered by medicine.  For others, their view is represented by a physician in a respected medical journal: ‘In my opinion death is an insult; the stupidest, ugliest thing that can ever happen to a human being’ and therefore, a cruel, unwanted interruption that is best ignored.  For many the separation from loved ones is too painful to consider.  Perhaps for most of us, the frenetic pace of life and the immediate claims of the present moment leave not time, except for fleeting reflection at funerals, to contemplate seriously where we came from and where we are going.  Saint Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism, offers the sober advice to ‘keep your own death before your eyes each day.’  It is not a counsel to morbidity but a challenge to faith and fortitude.”  – Brennan Manning, Abba’s Child

How can we keep our own death before our eyes daily and not have it become an exercise in morbidity?  Simple.  It’s the secret behind the understanding of the passage from Philippians 1:21 (above).  Simply put, Paul is telling us that life means Christ, and that death is not a spectre to be avoided, but rather a prize to be won.  We, as Christians, are not faced with a choice between life and death, but as Brennan Manning wrote, but a choice “…between life and life.”  This is, indeed, the promise from the very lips of Christ: (John 14:19b) “Because I live, you also will live.”

Contemplate your death not as the end, but as the birth to a new, vibrant reality – not something to be feared, but something to be won, a prize for which you have longed that will be yours in His time.

PRAYER:  As mortal creatures we are appalled by death, Lord.  We know it is an enemy, but what power You have to turn even the final enemy into an instrument of beauty! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 6/16/21 – Strange Events in the Graveyard

NOTE: Galen is out of the office until 6/28 so we’re featuring DayBreaks from the past.

Mt. 27:50-53 – Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.

What a fascinating passage this is!  I’ve known about this section of Scripture for years and I had formed a picture in my mind that was erroneous.  I thought that after Jesus died and these people rose, that they went straightway into the city.  I was wrong.  Read it again, carefully.  They rose when he died on FRIDAY, and they remained in the cemetery until Sunday after Jesus’ own resurrection, and only then, on SUNDAY, did they go into the city of Jerusalem.

Why?  I must confess, I don’t know, and I’ve not heard a good explanation for it from anyone. If you have ideas or thoughts about this passage, I’d love to hear them!  I think I understand the reason for the rising of these people: they were to bear witness and bring glory to Christ.  They were able to bring a testimony that would be hard to refute that the power of death was broken!

But why did they remain among the tombs for so long?  Some thoughts come to mind:

FIRST: Jesus is to be the first-fruits from the dead, not these men and women.  They didn’t raise themselves, Jesus raised himself.  They would die again, Jesus wouldn’t.  They should not receive any of the glory that was only to be his.

SECOND: until Jesus rose on Sunday, there was not really new life for anyone.  With his resurrection comes the promise of resurrection – and new life that goes along with it – for everyone who believes.

I don’t know what became of those who were raised on Friday.  Did they simply at some point after appearing as proof of the resurrection return to their tombs, lay down again in the dirt, and return to their eternal reward?  Or did they go through all the process of dying again some number of years down the road? 

It doesn’t really matter.  The story is not about them – nor us – it is always about Jesus!

PRAYER: Lord, your Word is so rich and holds so many mysteries that we don’t comprehend.  I pray, however, that we will never lose sight of the fact that the story is about You, and not anyone else. Amen. 

Copyright 2021, Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 4/28/21 – The Worst Things Are Not the Last Things

From the DayBreaks archive, April 2012:

Winston Churchill had planned his funeral, which took place in Saint Paul’s Cathedral. He included many of the great hymns of the church, and used the eloquent Anglican liturgy. At his direction, a bugler, positioned high in the dome of Saint Paul’s, intoned, after the benediction, the sound of Taps, the universal signal that says the day is over. But then came the most dramatic turn: As Churchill instructed, as soon as Taps was finished, another bugler, placed on the other side of the great dome, played the notes of Reveille – “It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up. It’s time to get up in the morning.” That was Churchill’s testimony that at the end of history, the last note will not be Taps; it will be Reveille. The worst things are never the last things.

It’s not yet the end of the week…and I don’t now about you, but to me it’s been a long week.  You may be worn out.  You may be despairing.  You may not see hope for the future.  I urge you: hang in there! Just remember: the worst things are never the last things, for we will “get up in the morning” of glory!

PRAYER: For the hope that never dies, for the expectation of the coming morning of glory, we rejoice and give you our praise!  In Jesus’ name, Amen. ><}}}”>

Copyright 2021, Galen C. Dalrymple. All rights reserved.