Inspired by the sermon today based on the Book of Matthew:

Page One News
by Michael Romani

Meeting here on every Sunday
Hoping in some simple way
To celebrate His Resurrection
Making through prayer that connection
Back To our very beginning
At the cross with Jesus winning
In His triumph over death
For all of us who were left

With a stone's throw
Rolled away
We recognize and know
Prophecy fulfilled that day
In an empty tomb
From a manger without room
His disciples needed to be stout
Still some were filled with doubt

He met them again on the road
Teaching them as He had told
To go out on that Great Commission
Do not sin in your meek omission
Spread the story out across the lands
That is what Jesus now commands
Tasked with this Commission as such
We find it really isn't all that much

The past no longer means
What it was said to mean
The Resurrection makes us anew
Believe in its power; it's true
Freed as He rose from the dead
Conquering sin just as he said
This is the new message to be told
In these days as in days of old

Our faith put in His sacred victory
That gives the same to you and me
Though we are still sometimes hurt
His faithfulness will never desert
But leads our scars into stars
And gives us life without self-made bars
We find we are free to choose
And with right choices cannot lose

Resurrection faith must be taken deep
Think on these things and maybe weep
The Word is the eternal God and Son
The Holy Spirit filing us as is done
The power now to be a blessing
Walking our talk without guessing
Nor giving cause that others might stumble
His will be done and the bonds of evil crumble

Because all of these words were spoken
To hearts so tender and those broken
Called on our mission to go and tell
Words offered in love not clanging bells
Surpassing bad news overwhelming us all
We turn to help when we heed the call
This is the way and the path of the Lord
With the Spirit a shield and the Word our sword

That's our adversary making us uncomfortable
We can listen to God or turn to the devil
But our job here is to simply tell the news
Get out on the streets and out of the pews
Spreading that newness in an offer of salvation
Go and share the Gospel across our nations
Telling the world what it is that we see
Bringing this love to those like you and me

Here we are face to face with resurrected Jesus
Our Messiah who gave His life to love and save us
Explaining only what it is that we do know
Letting that bit shine through in its own God flow
Realizing we will know all in it's own speed
But for now accepting and sharing that we are freed
Freed from all that depravity that enchained us
By the blood of the sacrificial lamb that is Jesus

Once we were blind, now seeing we share promises
Telling others the truth even doubting Thomases
Caught up in doubt uncertain what is all about
Moving past fear and rising up in a joyous shout
Lifting up others in their dark discouragement
Giving our love, prayers and strong encouragement
You can't tell others enough about our God of chances
Our Rabbi of everything is the Lord of these dances

Despite the things that appear as outer circumstances
Our God sees all of this as a set of further chances
That God through Jesus sees us all as His family
This despite the gap between us in His divinity
This is the crux of that which we hold as our theology
As is, as it was, throughout history this shall be
The Son sent into the depravity of this world to save
This is what God, the Father, chose and gave

Praising the name of the God of the forgiven past
Putting aside all those choices that did not last
The God of hope gave His all to you and to me
And we should give that love back as it could be
Carefully, lovingly walking that righteous walk
Showing by example that it is more than just talk
The truth of this is spoken in its own tautology
Truth is truth and love is the base of our theology

(c) May 7, 2017  Michael Romani