I Know What It's Like to Be Dead and Then Have New Life

"[The Pope] said what all people of all faiths know when they have God-consciousness: that most religion is satisfied and desires a God who pushes our human sufferings and the messiness of human life away. We usually want a strong, powerful, clean and pure, pristine God who says that if your life is messy and complicated that that is Satan, or the Not-God. But the God that this morning's story is talking about is the God who does not push away our sufferings but rushes--rushes--to enter into our sufferings, breaking through our less-than-stellar selves and lives, not only to love us, but to give us the feelings and the consciousness that Jesus brought back from the grave." Sermon by Ed Bacon, at All Saints Church, Pasadena, on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016. Readings: Acts 10:34-43 and Luke 24:1-12. Watch this sermon on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Fz_h6Ot_fnQ. For more about the mission and ministry of All Saints Church visit http://www.allsaints-pas.org and follow us on Twitter @ASCpas. Donate to support the mission and ministries of All Saints at http://www.allsaints-pas.org/support/donate/.