NOTES: 1]1] The two Marys have heard what's happened from an angel, but now Jesus himself appears to them. 2] v.10 raises the question of where the resurrection appearances actually happen. MK 14:28 & 16:7 support MT's view, but MT's based on them anyway; LK has them firmly in Jerusalem; JN has 'two bob each way'. We're probably looking at rival views that developed between the Jerusalem & Galilean churches. 3] v15b is omitted to avoid offending Jewish susceptibilities.

WARMING UP: Can we remember when & where (if you ever did) we first met our grandparents?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything that's happened this week?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

8-10      Can we remember when the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead became 1st hand rather than 2nd hand to us? Where were we at the time? What were the circumstances? Are we too far removed from what happened back then for it to produce either the fear or joy M & M experience? What feelings does that Good News rouse in us today?

If the Resurrection is only an idea for us, & not a meaningful experience, aren't we in the same boat as M & M before they meet Jesus face to face? Is there any mileage for God or us if Jesus' resurrection is only an intellectual idea? If we need to make the transition like M & M from a Jesus we've been told has been raised, to a raised Jesus we've met, how does one go about that? If we have in any meaningful sense met Jesus raised from death, how good are we at passing on the message?

11-15    Which appears to us to hold more water: the alleged Jewish plot to say Jesus' disciples stole his body, or the disciples' story that Jesus was raised from the dead? Do the actions of the disciples after they allege Jesus was raised from death seem to us the actions of people who really have only a dead body on their hands?

Do our own actions today speak of a raised Saviour, or only of a body long turned to dust in Israel? Is it ever our habit to 'cover our tracks' if some situation's got away from us? Or is it only criminals who do that? Is religion just an attempt to cover our human tracks anyway? Have we been able to pass on the Resurrection story to someone this Easter? Can we think of an Easter equivalent of Good Friday's 'hot cross buns' (don't dare suggest Easter bunnies!) we could make & use as part of our continuing  Easter Celebration? What about food customs of other churches & other countries?
 
 

NOTES: 1] Just as their Jewish forbears had been scattered over the wider world by persecution & deportation, now the young church is scattered too. The seed of the Gospel is thus sown more widely & quickly, often beginning in the synagogues of the previously scattered Hebrews (the 'Diaspora'). 2] Hellenists embraced Greek culture. 3] Barnabas was one of the 'really good guys' of the early church.

WARMING UP: How comfortable do we feel in a multi-cultural society?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything that's happened since last week's Group?

EXPLORING ACTS:
19-24   Have we, too, fallen into the habit of 'speaking the word' only to those of our own faith & culture? Is it just too hard to break out of that kind of mould / mind set? Too hard for whom? What is the 'word' anyway? Are there any local initiatives in the areas of cross-culture & inter-faith? How do we know when 'the hand of the Lord' is with someone? What would we give, or give up, to have a 'great number become believers & turn to the Lord'? Or, doesn't that kind of thing matter any more? Matter to whom?
            What does it take to be able to 'recognize the grace of God' as Barnabas does here? Are 'grace', 'rejoicing', 'faithful', & (steadfast) 'devotion' part of our personal or church vocabulary any more? What would we need to see in a person to discern that they are 'a good person', full of the Holy Spirit', & 'full of faith'? Can any of these stand alone, or is it a package deal? Can we get such a deal for ourself? How?

25-30  Do we ever go out of our way to take someone under our wing, either because we realise they need us to do that, or in response to someone else recognizing they need us & asking us to go to them? Or, did someone once do that same thing for us? How might the people of Antioch identified people as 'Christians'? How do the people where we live identify us as Christians? Do we have any longer term programmes in our church that aim at nurturing people in the faith?
           Does 'prophecy' have any role in today's church? Are there any prophets we can identify among us? Is the kind of prophecy Agabus makes something we should expect to hear in these days of information technology overload? Or is there still a place for genuine prophecy to undergird, or fill a gap in, human knowledge?
           In a world where for a number of reasons relief efforts are always in demand, are we entitled to be restrictive in choosing whom we'll aid & whom we won't? (As I write, the tsunami relief operations are in full swing.) How .long can we keep up this kind of intensity? How long must we keep it up? Do we see relief efforts within faith communitites & beyond them having any longer term benefit for international, inter-faith, relations? Even if that's true, is that the reason we should be helping? Are we as aware as we might be of need within our own congregation & local community? Has it become too easy to place relief efforts at most levels into the hands of organisations? Is that the only way anything can really happen today?