Archive for category: Uncategorized

Clusters

January 1, 2017/in Activity, Adults, Learning, Men, Support, Uncategorized, Women /by Greg Beckner

Clusters are small groups that meet regularly to help define the activities of the church. They typically meet at the church. To find out about joining a cluster, contact the church office at 216-932-7480 or click on the cluster to contact the Lay Leader for that group.

Children’s Center: Frank Marino

Communication & Outreach: Debra Hegler
Greeters, Welcome Center, Marketing, & Communications

Discipleship: Dana Capers
Discipleship Classes, PrimeTime, Children’s Ministry, Youth Ministry, & Covenant Groups

Fellowship and Nurture: Iris Goins
Stephen Ministry, Deacons, & New Member Orientation

Missions & Social Concerns: Carolyn Neal

Stewardship: Lynne Liu
Property and Finance, Stewardship Campaign, Endowment, & Audit

Worship and Fine Arts: Carole Negus

Mission Outreach Opportunities

January 1, 2017/in Activity, Adults, Children, Giving, Holiday, Men, Support, Teens, Uncategorized, Women /by Greg Beckner

There are literally dozens of other opportunities for people to serve. If you have a desire to be actively involved in the work of the church, please contact the church office at (216) 932-7480 or by email.

Serve a Meal to the Homeless

Participate in Faith in Action Sunday

Join others on the first Sunday in June for a day of service projects both at FBC and in our community. For more information, please email Fran Leanza.

Make a Delivery to the Bethany Baptist Hunger Center

Help deliver food to the Hunger Center at Bethany Baptist Church at 1211 East 105th St. For more information, contact Barbara Baus.

Assist in the East Side Ministry program for Adults with Developmental Disabilities

This group meets at FBC each Sunday from October-May. You can volunteer in the Sunday morning classroom where students participate in lessons that include stories, music and crafts.

Join Others Gardening in the FBC Hunger Garden

Support P.A.D.S. (Pride Among Daughters & Sisters)

This newly non-profit organization was started by our own FBC member, Delesia Robinson. The mission of PADS is to provide hygiene products to underprivileged teens & women and to promote pride, dignity and confidence. To learn more about this ministry and to help with any contributions, please contact Delesia Robinson. For more info visit www.prideamongdaughters.org

Help Assemble Thanksgiving Food Baskets

During the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving we ask for donations of non-perishable food items such as canned vegetables, fruits, cranberry sauce, stuffing mix, jello, cake mix etc. Come join the fun on the Monday before Thanksgiving in sorting donations and assembling food baskets for families in need. Please contact Fran Leanza for more information.

Christmas Giving Tree

Through the FBC Giving Tree, you can participate in our Christmas Angel Program by buying a oersonal gift for a young child living in transitional housing or in shelters sponsored by the Family Promise Organization. For further information please contact Fran Leanza.

AMOS Health & Hope

Since 1967 our church has supported missions in Nicaragua. We began by commissioning missionaries Rev. Dr. Gustavo and Joan Parajon who were Ministers of the First Baptist Church of Managua and also began several health initiatives that have transformed the country’s health care system. Following in their footsteps, Drs. David & Laura Parajonare continuing the health missions, now called AMOS Health & Hope,a Christian Public Health organization that serves impoverished rural communities. Each year FBC sends a team to support AMOS and in the past have provided earthquake, hurricane, and flood relief, and projects to provide clean, safe drinking water in rural communities.

Learn more about our Nicaragua Missions

Praise Team

January 1, 2017/in Activity, Adults, Audio, Learning, Men, Music, Uncategorized, Women /by Greg Beckner

If you would like to sing with the Praise Team they rehearse at the church from Saturdays from 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm in the Sanctuary.

Check the calendar to verify dates and times.

If you would like to join or get more information about the Praise Team contact Dr. Bob Schneider through the form below.

[contact-form to=’schneider.cleveland@gmail.com’ subject=’I am interested in the Praise Team’][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]

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First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland

3 weeks ago

12 Hour Prayer Vigil April 1st, 8PM-8AMYou can sign up for a timeslot to pray, email us your name and time you would like to come to vigil@firstbaptistcleveland.org. You will receive more information and a link to join a Zoom meeting right away. If you don't see an email from us within a few minutes please check your spam/junk folder. Everyone is welcome to join in our prayer time. Once connected to Zoom you can view previous prayers and leave additional public prayers. You can email us and join the prayer meeting at any time during the 12 hours.If you have any prayer requests that you would like to remain private please email them to prayer@firstbaptistcleveland.org.You may view or download a Printable 12hr Prayer Vigil PDF www.firstbaptistcleveland.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/12hr-Prayer-Vigil.pdfOr read online below-Were you there when they crucified my Lord?Meditations for 2021 Lenten 12-hour prayer vigilThere are twelve selections to read. Find a quiet place in your home to watch with the disciples through the night, if you can. Otherwise, choose whatever option fits. In general, this is a time of focused prayer and devotion; a time when you block out the busyness of your life and sit in the presence of God.Options:• Read one selection per hour if you will be watching through the night following the Maundy Thursday service. • Read through the scriptures and selected readings in the hour(s) you have designated after the Maundy Thursday service.• Read over the weekend between Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday.Notes: 1. The Scriptures selected here walk you through the 4 gospel accounts of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Whether you use the selected meditations, it is highly recommended that you read through the 4 gospel accounts. Read and take them to heart as you imagine walking with Jesus from the Last Supper to the mount of Olives. Stay awake this night as he prays. Walk with him through his arrest and sentencing and finally up the hill to Golgotha. Stay with him through the agony of his crucifixion and death. Follow the steps of the disciples who laid him in the tomb and finally rejoice at the empty tomb. Consider what this means to you and for you. 2. Selected writings from the authors came from:Bread and Wine, Readings for Lent and Easter (2003). The Plough Publishing House. The first hourScripture: Mark 10:32-34 – Jesus predicts his deathMeditation: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), German theologian martyred under Hitler“Death on the cross means to suffer and die as someone rejected and expelled… Only Chris’s own suffering is the suffering of reconciliation. Yet because Christ did suffer for the sake of the world’s sins because the entire burden of sin fell upon him, and because Jesus Christ bequeaths to the disciples the fruit of his suffering – because of all this, temptation and sin also fall upon the disciples. It covers them with pure shame and expels them from the gates of the city like the scapegoat. Thus does the Christian come to bear sin and guilt for others. Individual Christians would collapse under the weight of this, were they not themselves borne by him who bore all sins. In this way, however, they can, in the power of Christ’s own suffering, overcome all the sins that fall upon them by forgiving them. Thus do Christians become the bearers of burdens: ‘Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ’ (Gal.6:2). Just as Christ bears our burdens, so also are we to bear the burdens of our brothers and sisters. The law of Christ which must be fulfilled is the bearing of the cross… I cannot bear it except by forgiving it, in the power of the cross of Christ in which I, too, have a portion.”The second hourScripture: Matthew 26:17-30 ¬¬– From the Last Supper to the Mount of OlivesMeditation: Thomas a’ Kempis (1380-1471), German mystic and priest“There will always be many who love Christ’s heavenly kingdom, but few who will bear his cross. Jesus has many who desire consolation, but few who care for adversity. He finds many to share his table, but few who will join him in fasting. Many are eager to be happy with him; few wish to suffer anything for him. Many will follow him as far as the breaking of bread, but few will remain to drink from his passion. Many are awed by his miracles; few accept the shame of his cross. Many love Christ as long as they encounter no hardships; many praise and bless him as long as they receive some comfort from him. But if Jesus hides himself and leaves them for a while, they either start complaining or become dejected. Those, on the contrary, who love him for his own sake and not for any comfort of their own, praise him both in trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation… What power there is in a pure love for Jesus – love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!Why then do you fear to take up the cross when through it you can win the kingdom? There is no salvation or hope of everlasting life but in the cross… If you willingly carry the cross, it will carry you… The whole life of Christ was a cross. And the more spiritual progress you strive for, the heavier will your crosses become, for as your love for God increases so will the pain of your exile.Decide then, like a good and faithful servant of Christ, to bear bravely the cross of your Lord. It was out of love that he was crucified for you. Drink freely from the Lord’s cup if you wish to be his friend. Leave your need for consolation to God. Let him do as he wills. On your part, be ready to bear sufferings and consider how in these sufferings lies your greatest consolation. The sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come.” The third hourScripture: Mark 14:10 – Jesus is handed over to the authoritiesMeditation: Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), Dutch Catholic priest, psychologist, and spiritual writer“The central word in the story of Jesus’ arrest is ‘to be handed over’… Some translations say that Jesus was ‘betrayed’ but the Greek says he was ‘handed over.’ Judas handed Jesus over. But the remarkable thing is that the same word is used not only for Judas but also for God. God did not spare Jesus but handed him over to benefit us all (Romans 8:32). So this word plays a central role in the life of Jesus. Indeed, this drama of being handed over divides the life of Jesus radically in two.The first part of Jesus’ life is filled with activity. Jesus takes all sorts of initiatives. He speaks; he preaches; he heals; he travels. But immediately after Jesus is handed over, he becomes the one to whom things are being done. He’s being arrested; he’s being led to the high priest; he’s being taken before Pilate; he’s being crowned with thorns; he’s being nailed on a cross. Things are being done to him over which he has no control. That is the meaning of passion – being the recipient of other people’s initiatives.It is important for us to realize that when Jesus says, ‘It is accomplished,’ he does not simply mean ‘I have done all the things I wanted to do.’ He also means ‘I have allowed things to be done to me that needed to be done to me in order for me to fulfill my vocation.’ Jesus does not fulfill his vocation in actions only but also in passion. He doesn’t just fulfill his vocation by doing the things the Father sent him to do, but also by letting things be done to him that the Father allows to be done to him, by receiving other people’s initiatives. Passion is a kind of waiting – waiting for what other people are going to do. Jesus went to Jerusalem to announce the good news to the people of that city. And Jesus knew that he was going to put a choice before them: Will you be my disciple, or will you be my executioner? There is no middle ground here. Jesus went to Jerusalem to put people in a situation where they had to say ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ That is the great drama of Jesus’ passion: he had to wait upon how people were going to respond.‘The Son of Man’, Jesus says, ‘must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him’ (John 3:14-15). He is lifted up as a passive victim, so the cross is a sign of desolation. And he is lifted up in glory, so the cross becomes at the same time a sign of hope. Suddenly we realize that the glory of God, the divinity of God, bursts through in Jesus’ passion precisely when he is most victimized. So new life becomes visible not only in the resurrection on the third day, but already in the passion, in the being handed over. Why? Because it is in the passion that the fullness of God’s love shines through. It is supremely a waiting love, a love that does not seek control.Imagine how important this message is for people in our world. If it is true that God in Jesus Christ is waiting for our response to divine love, then we can discover a whole new perspective on how to wait in life. We can learn to be obedient people who do not always try to go back to the action but who recognize the fulfillment of our deepest humanity in passion, in waiting. If we can do this, I am convinced that we will come in touch with the glory of God and our own new life. Then our service to others will include our helping them see the glory breaking through, not only where they are active but also where they are being acted upon.”The fourth hourScripture: Mark 13:32-37; 14:32-42 – Keep watchMeditation: Philip Berrigan (1924-2002), Catholic social activist“Jesus warns us against sleeping, against being out of it while the world lurches on in its mindless, violent way. Jesus summons us to regard the world as Gethsemane, to watch and stay awake. Three times he had to awaken Peter, James, and John in the garden as he suffered their abandonment when they slept and later their abandonment in his time of greatest need.Psychological studies reveal that Americans live in less than 40% awareness, as though our minds and spirits cringe before the banality and ugliness of national life. Such studies imply an enormous waste lost to trivial pursuits – game playing, fantasizing, daydreaming, television, self-pity, brooding, boredom, gluttony in food or drink. Lost is the prospect of personal and social renewal, reading, study, meditation, prayer, teaching, service to the poor, justice and peacemaking, and non-violent resistance to power-mongering government and corporations. The scripture likens such crippled attentiveness to death – death before one dies.Yes, Jesus commands us to wake and watch. Watch for who or what? Watch for the Holy Spirit of God who teaches us the life of Jesus Christ… Watch the words of others, since God often speaks to us through sisters and brothers. Watch for conformity between words and deeds, and when the two are the same, watch only their deeds. Watch for heroic women and men who give their lives tending victims – the bombed, starved, raped, tortured – and to exposing the victimizers from within prison and without. Watch the hope that they give you by the speech of their lives, and then dare to extend hope to others. Watch the world through nonviolence and become a student of systemic evil... Watch corporations and their accountability to one thing: a financial system rightly called a global gambling casino… Watch, learn, act – the formula for a faithful and sane life.” The fifth hourScripture: Matthew 26:47-56 – Peter defends JesusMeditation: John Dear (1956- ), American Catholic peace activist“The soldiers and the authorities lay hands on Jesus and arrest him. At that moment of confrontation, according to Luke, all the disciples ask ‘Lord, shall we strike with a sword’? Then Matthew’s, Mark’s, and Luke’s unnamed disciple attempts to defend Jesus by using the same means as the arresting authorities. John’s gospel, however, goes further by naming the sword-wielding disciple as none other than Peter himself… Perhaps Peter, like the disciples and the rest of us, resorts to violence because he is more interested in protecting himself than in protecting Jesus.Jesus invokes God and God’s nonviolent armies (the thousands of angels) who would answer if called, but he keeps his eye on the Scriptures. He will not become a murderous, imperial messiah; he is the nonviolent Suffering Servant of Isaiah. He is a peacemaking, sacrificial God… ‘Put your sword back.’ His followers are not allowed to respond with violence… Why? Because all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Violence begets violence. Killing begets killing… Jesus, the incarnation of the God of nonviolence, stands for life. He will not succumb to the way of violence… The command stands as the ultimate reproof of violence. From Christ’s perspective – the perspective of one who is under arrest and in trouble with the authorities – our violence reveals that we have sided with the empire, that we are no different from the oppressive authorities… Christ’s community, the Church, is a community of nonviolence.Jesus issues this final command – and his disciples turn and run away. They run not only from the imperial authorities who threaten the entire discipleship community; they run from the unarmed nonviolent Christ who will not defend himself against personal harm. They know that an unarmed response to the imperial authorities will lead to disappearance, torture, and execution – and who can stomach such craziness? The Evangelists do not cover up the rejection Jesus undergoes: ‘All the disciples left him and fled.’ Jesus is left alone once again, for the last time. He is led away to be slaughtered.”The sixth hourScripture: Luke 22:54-62 – Peter’s denialMeditation: Henry Drummond (1851-1897), British revivalist and preacher“Every person at some time in his life has fallen. Many have fallen many times; few, few times. And who of us can fail to shudder at the tale of Peter’s guilt?... But there is something in Peter’s life that is much greater than his sin. It is his repentance. We all too easily relate to Peter in his sin, but few of us grasp the wonder of his repentance. Sinful Peter is one man, and repentant Peter is another; and many of us who kept his company along these worn steps to sin have left him to trace the tear-washed path of repentance alone. But the real lesson in Peter’s life is one of repentance. His fall is a lesson in sin that requires no teacher, but his repentance is a great lesson in salvation. What then can we learn from Peter’s turning around? First, it was not Peter who turned. It was the Lord who turned and looked at Peter. When the cock crew, that might have kept Peter from falling further. But he was just in the very act of sin. And when the person is in the thick of sin his last thought is to throw down his arms and repent. So Peter never thought of turning, but the Lord turned. And when Peter would rather have looked anywhere else than at the Lord, the Lord looked at Peter. This scarce-noticed fact is the only sermon needed to anyone who sins – that the Lord turns first.True contrition occurs when God turns and looks upon us. Human sorrow is us turning and looking upon ourselves. True, there is nothing wrong in turning and looking at oneself – only there is a danger. We can miss the most authentic experience of life in the imitation. For genuine repentance consists of feeling deeply our human helplessness, of knowing how God comes to us when we are completely broken. In the end it is God looking into the sinner’s face that matters.Today, perhaps the Lord is turning and looking at you. Right where you are, your spirit is far away just now, dealing with some sin, some unbearable weight; and God is teaching you the lesson himself – the bitterest, yet the sweetest lesson of your life, in heartfelt repentance. Stay right where you are. Don’t return into the hustle and bustle of life until the Lord has also turned and looked on you again, as he looked at the thief upon the cross, and until you have beheld the ‘glory of the love of God in the face of Jesus’.”The seventh hourScripture: Matthew 26:57-67 – Jesus is sentenced to deathMeditation: Morton Kelsey (1917-2000), American Episcopal priest, spiritual writer, psychologist“Let us look at some of the people who brought Jesus of Nazareth to crucifixion. They were not monsters, but ordinary men and women like you and me.Pilate receives most of the blame for Jesus’ death, and yet Pilate didn’t want to crucify the man. Why did Pilate condemn Jesus? Because Pilate was a coward. He cared more about his comfortable position than he did about justice. He didn’t have the courage to stand for what he knew was right. It was because of this relatively small flaw in Pilate’s character that Jesus died on a cross. Whenever you and I are willing to sacrifice someone else for our own benefit, whenever we don’t have the courage to stand up for what we see is right, we step into the same course that Pilate took.And Caiaphas, was he such a monster? Far from it. He was the admired and revered religious leader of the most religious people in that ancient world. He was the High Priest. His personal habits were impeccable. He was a devout and sincerely religious man. Why did he seek to have Jesus condemned? He did it for the simple reason that he was too rigid. He thought he had to protect God from this man, thought he had to protect the Jewish faith, and so he said: ‘It is good for one man to die instead of a nation being destroyed’. Caiaphas’s essential flaw was that he thought he had the whole truth. People who have fought religious wars, those who have persecuted in the name of religion, have followed in his footsteps. Those who put their creeds above mercy and kindness and love, walk there even now.Why did Judas betray his master? He wasn’t interested in the thirty pieces of silver, at least not primarily. Judas had wanted Jesus to call upon heavenly powers, to take control of the situation and throw the Romans out of Palestine. When he failed to do this, Judas no longer wanted anything to do with him. Judas’ fault was that he couldn’t wait. When we can’t wait and want to push things through, when we think we can accomplish a noble end by human means, we are just like Judas.Then there was the nameless carpenter who made the cross. He was a skilled workman. He knew full well what the purpose of that cross was. If you questioned him, he probably would have said ‘But I am a poor man who must make a living. If other men use it for ill, is it my fault’? So say all of us who pursue jobs which add nothing to human welfare or which hurt some people. Does the work I do aid or hinder human beings? Are we crossmakers for our modern world? There are many, many of them. These were the things that crucified Jesus on Friday in Passover week A.D.29. They were not wild viciousness or sadistic brutality or naked hate, but the civilized vices of cowardice, bigotry, impatience, timidity, falsehood, indifference – vices all of us share, the very vices which crucify human beings today. This destructiveness within us can seldom be transformed until we squarely face it in ourselves. This confrontation often leads us into the pit. The empty cross is planted there to remind us that suffering is real but not the end, that victory still is possible if we strive on.” The eighth hourScripture: John 19:28 – I thirstMeditation: Mother Teresa (1910-1997), Founder of Calcutta’s Missionaries of Charity“I know you through and through – I know everything about you. The very hairs of your head I have numbered. Nothing in your life is unimportant to me. I have followed you through the years, and I have always loved you – even in your wanderings… I know what is in your heart – I know your loneliness and all your hurts - the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations. I carried it all before you. And I carried it all for you, so you might share my strength and victory. I know especially your need for love – how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished. But how often have you thirsted in vain, by seeking that love selfishly, striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasures – with even greater emptiness of sin. Do you thirst for love? ‘Come to me all you who thirst’ (John7:37). I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine to the point of dying on a cross for you…Do you find this hard to believe? Then look at the cross, look at my heart that was pierced for you. Have you not understood my cross? Then listen again to the words I spoke there – for they tell you clearly why I endured all this for you: ‘I thirst’. Yes, I thirst for you – as the rest of the Psalm verse which I was praying says of me: ‘I looked for love, and I found none’ (Psalm 69:20). All your life I have been looking for your love – I have never stopped seeking to love and be loved by you. You have tried many other things in your search for happiness; why not try opening your heart to me, right now, more than you ever have before. Whenever you do open the door of your heart, whenever you come close enough, you will hear me say to you again, not in mere human words but in spirit: ‘No matter what you have done, I love you for your own sake’. Come to me with your misery and your sins, with your trouble and needs, and with all your longing to be loved. I stand at the door of your heart and knock. Open to me, for I thirst for you.”The ninth hourScripture: Matthew 27:45-56 - Jesus suffers and diesMeditation: Thomas Merton (1915-1968), American Trappist, poet, essayist, and contemplativeOnly the sufferings of Christ are valuable in the sight of God, who hates evil, and to him they are valuable chiefly as a sign. The death of Jesus on the cross has an infinite meaning and value not because it is a death, but because it is the death of the Son of God. The cross of Christ says nothing of the power of suffering or of death. It speaks only of the power of him who overcame both suffering and death by rising from the grave.For Jesus is not merely someone who once loved us enough to die for us. His love for us is the infinite love of God, which is stronger than all evil and cannot be touched by death. Suffering, therefore, can only be consecrated to God by one who believes that Jesus is not dead. And it is of the very essence of Christianity to face suffering and death not because they are good, not because they have meaning, but because the resurrection of Jesus has robbed them of their meaning.If we love God and others in him, we will be glad to let suffering destroy anything in us that God is pleased to let it destroy, because we know that all it destroys is unimportant. We will prefer to let the accidental trash of life be consumed by suffering in order that his glory may come out clean in everything we do. If we love God, suffering does not matter. Christ in us, his love, his Passion in us, that is what we care about. Pain does not cease to be pain, but we can be glad of it because it enables Christ to suffer in us and give glory to his Father by being greater, in out hearts, than suffering would ever be.”The tenth hourScripture: Luke 24 – The ResurrectionMeditation: C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), Anglican novelist and apologist“We come to the strangest story of all, the story of the Resurrection. It is very necessary to get the story clear… Something perfectly new in the history of the Universe had happened. Christ had defeated death. The door which had always been locked had for the very first time been forced open…The Resurrection narratives are not a picture of survival after death; they record how a totally new mode of being has arisen in the Universe… as new as the first coming of organic life. This Man, after death, does not get divided into ghost and corpse. A new mode of being has arisen. This is the story. What are we going to make of it?The question, I suppose is whether any hypothesis covers the facts so well as the Christian hypothesis. That hypothesis is that God has come down to manhood – and come up again, pulling it up with him. The alternative hypothesis is not legend, nor exaggeration, nor the apparitions of a ghost. It is either lunacy or lies. Unless one can take the second alternative (and I can’t) one turns to the Christian view. What are we going to make of Christ? There is no question of what we can make of him, it is entirely a question of what he intends to make of us. You must accept or reject the story.The things he says are very different from what any other teacher has said. Others say ‘This is the truth about the Universe. This is the way you ought to go’, but he says, ‘I am the Truth and the Way, and the Life’. He says ‘No person can reach absolute reality, except through me. Try to retain your own life and you will be inevitably ruined. Give yourself away and you will be saved’. He says ‘If you are ashamed of me, if, when you hear this call, you turn the other way, I will also look the other way when I come again as God without disguise. If anything whatever is keeping you from God and from me, whatever it is, throw it away. If it is your eye, pull it out. If it is your hand, cut it off. If you put yourself first, you will be last. Come to me everyone who is carrying a heavy load. I will set that right. Your sins, all of them, are wiped out. I can do that. I am Rebirth. I am Life. Eat me, drink me, I am your Food. And finally, do not be afraid, I have overcome the whole Universe’. That is the issue.”The eleventh hourScripture: Matthew 28 - Witnesses to the ResurrectionMeditation: Joyce Hollyday (1954 - ), American peace activist, retreat leader and writer“In the half-light of dawn, in a graveyard, it might have been tempting to believe that their eyes were playing tricks. But the body the women had come to anoint was indeed gone, and the proclamation rang out through the eeriness and emptiness of the place: ‘He has risen’.Mary Magdalene and the other Mary fled from the tomb ‘with fear and great joy’ according to Matthew’s account. It was a case of mixed emotions entirely appropriate to the occasion. The women were bursting to tell the news, and yet they were afraid of what had been revealed first to them. Before they ever reached the others, they encountered their risen Lord. He greeted them and then offered them the words of reassurance they most needed to hear: ‘Do not be afraid’.After Jesus’ crucifixion, fear ran rampant among his followers. Joseph of Arimathea, owner of the tomb, asked Pilate for Jesus’ body ‘secretly, for fear of the Jews’. Nicodemus came with spices to help prepare the body for burial, but only under the safe cover of night. And the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples, who had abandoned, and in Peter’s case even denied, their Lord, remained hidden behind closed doors. Even the authorities who had put him to death were fearful. Great care was taken to securely seal the tomb. And when the news reached the chief priests that Jesus had risen, they devised a cover-up, offering money to the tomb guards to spread the story that Jesus’ disciples had come and stolen the body. Against this fear and fraud was the simple faithfulness of the women, who had stood at the cross, watched as the stone was rolled over the tomb, and come at dawn to anoint the body. Their reward was the gift of being witnesses to the Resurrection.Mary and Mary Magdalene loved with such a perfect love that they shed their fear. Empowered by their faith and their encounter with the risen Christ, they ran on to proclaim what they had seen and what they knew to be true. They were among the first to know the truth that John later put into words: ‘There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear’ (1 John 4:18).The women invite you and me to such faith. Their testimony stands through the ages. It is a reminder to ‘rekindle the gift of God that is within you… for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love’ (2 Timothy 1:6-7). With courage and joy, let us claim that same spirit that dwelt within our sisters, the first witnesses to the Resurrection.”The twelfth hourScripture: John 20 and 21 - EASTER- The power of forgivenessMeditation: Johann Christoph Arnold (1940-2017), American author, pastoral counselor, speaker“Easter is far more than a holiday or a celebration; it is power. Jesus taught us to love our enemies and to bless those who persecute us. These are not just words. As his compassionate plea from the cross shows – ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’ – he practiced what he preached. So did Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who prayed much the same thing as he was being stoned to death: ‘Father do not hold this against them’.Many people, including Bible-believing Christians, dismiss such an attitude as self-destructive foolishness. How can we embrace someone intent on harming or killing us? Why not fight back in self-defense? What about justice? All the while we eagerly pray ‘Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors’. Familiar as they are, I often wonder whether we really mean what we say when we repeat these words from the Lord’s Prayer, and whether we sufficiently consider their meaning. Besides, Jesus was adamant when it comes to the issue of forgiveness: ‘Go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift…If you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins’ (Matthew 5:24; 6: 14-15).Refusing to forgive is tantamount to re-crucifying Christ. Instead of seeing stones rolled away, we throw stones at each other. What so many people today fail to realize is that forgiveness is a door to peace and happiness. Forgiving is not ignoring wrongdoing but overcoming the evil inside us and in our world with love. To forgive is not just a command of Christ but the key to reconciling all that is broken in our lives and relationships…I have lived long enough to learn that failure to forgive leads down a path of destruction – of bitterness, self-hate, alienation, relentless cycles of conflict, and downright misery. But forgiveness can vanquish all such pain. Why else did Jesus command us to forgive? It can heal both the forgiver and the forgiven. In fact, it could change the world if we allowed it to. But too often we stand in its way, not daring to let it flow through us unchecked. If only we would dare! When Christians do put Christ’s command into practice by forgiving, they create a ripple effect that can touch thousands of lives and even affect the course of history… When we forgive we set ourselves free from the demon of bitterness. But we also set loose the power of love in the world…If the cross and resurrection are not just historic happenings but present realities, which I believe they are, then what we celebrate at Easter is the healing power of God’s forgiveness at work in our world today. God’s forgiveness can transform lives on a personal level, but it can influence events on a broader scale as well…Jesus offered his disciples the ‘keys of the kingdom’ (Matthew 16:19). We hold the key of forgiveness in our hands. And we must choose whether or not to use it. Christ wants us to use our hands, wounded as they may be, to extend his forgiveness to the world. Will they be closed, or outstretched like his?” ...

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First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland

3 weeks ago

We wanted to remind you of this evening's events leading up to Easter. At 7PM join us for our Maundy Thursday service where we remember the night when Jesus shared his last meal with his disciples. Tonight's service features a dramatic presentation of the "Living Last Supper", as well as music from the virtual choir, the handbell choir, Brian Kozak & Demetrius Steinmetz, and the Chancel Choir quartet. Pastor Kregg Burris will invite you to take communion at your home, as we celebrate and acknowledge the events of this important and meaningful evening.youtu.be/3dW9B7sZY8wAny time from 8PM to 8AM you can join our virtual 12 Hour Prayer Vigil. You can sign up for a timeslot to pray, email us your name and time you would like to come to vigil@firstbaptistcleveland.org. You will receive more information and a link to join a Zoom meeting. If you already sent in a request and have not received instructions please check your spam mailbox. Everyone is welcome to join in our prayer time. Once connected to Zoom you can view previous prayers and leave additional public prayers in the chat. ...

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First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland

3 weeks ago

We had a beautiful April 1 Sonrise Service this morning. Since the building was closed due to COVID-19 we decided to have it outside on the flat roof of the Portico. Being outdoors we could sing with our hearts open. It was a bit dicey for everyone that attended, we had not anticipated the snow making the ladder slippery. Who would have known when we planned this a couple of days ago when it was close to 70 degrees that there would be such a temperature drop. It was tough moving the organ up there but the beautiful music was well worth the extra trouble. We will try and post more photos later. Happy April 1 to All! ...

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First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland

3 weeks ago

Classes will not be held Wednesday, Thursday and, Sunday to allow everyone time to celebrate Lent and Easter activities. For a full list of events visit our website - www.firstbaptistcleveland.org/lent/ We look forward to celebrating with you, Hallelujah He is Risen! ...

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First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland

3 weeks ago

Be sure to tune in tomorrow at 7:00 pm on our YouTube Channel for a special Maundy Thursday service featuring a dramatization of the "The Last Supper." Jesus and his disciples are brought to life by Dan Mizener, Gregory Bagley, Daniel Brown, Marty Capers, Ship Collins, David Cumming, Roby Gill, Nate Hurle, John Marr, Tony Peebles, Jason Pitney, Pete Psarras, and Mike Skerritt. ...

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