From Chaos to Confidence

April 5, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon Acts, Alliance, Bible, Broadway, Christ, church, Colossians, creation, culture, Easter, faith, Genesis, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, John Partridge, Methodist, Ohio, Paul, resurrection, testify

From Chaos to Confidence

April 05, 2026*

(Easter Sunday)

By Pastor John Partridge

John 20:1-18 Acts 10:34-43 Colossians 3:1-4

Easter can still be surprising if we look at it from a different angle than we usually do. And one way to do that is to consider Easter as an act of God’s creation. That may seem unusual but bear with me and this message will become clear before we’re done. In the first words of Genesis, we hear these words:

^1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)

And, as easily as this passage comes to our memory, consider that the Hebrew that we translate as “formless and empty” is tohu va-bohu which implies an environment understood by the ancient world as one of terrifying disorder, such that in some modern translations, this phrase is being rendered simply as chaos. The world in the beginning was a place of terrifying chaos, and from it, God created order. And again, while the parallels might not be immediately apparent, bear with me as we begin this morning by remembering the first Easter morning that we read in John 20:1-18:

^20:1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. ²So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

³So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. ⁴Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. ⁸Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) ¹⁰Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

¹¹Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹²and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

¹³They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” ¹⁴At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

¹⁵He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

¹⁷Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

The actions of the players in this story may not seem all that strange to us in the twenty-first century, but in the context of the first century, everything understood to be culturally normal is turned on its head. Women were believed and understood to be unreliable such that, under Roman law, the testimony of a woman in court was only considered to be dependable if produced under torture. But here, while the women are understandably emotional, they are the ones doing the work that must be done while the men have remained at home paralyzed with grief. Similarly, we are told that the disciples, who had walked with Jesus for three years, still did not understand that Jesus had to rise from the dead. These men were baffled, confused, and emotionally incapacitated to the point that they follow the leadership of Mary and the other women. Moreover, Jesus’ first appearance isn’t to any of his trusted friends and disciples, but to the women whose testimonies would automatically be doubted. From the perspective of the disciples and the people in story, everything here is upside-down and utterly chaotic. If the disciples had chosen to invent a story about the resurrection, this is exactly the kind of story that they would have avoided at all costs because it would have been completely unbelievable. To the original audience, this story is utter chaos.

But just a few weeks later, when Peter confronts a crowd of people in the temple courts in Acts 10:34-43, he says this:

³⁴Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism ³⁵but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. ³⁶You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. ³⁷You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— ³⁸how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

³⁹“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, ⁴⁰but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. ⁴¹He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴²He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Peter admits that it all seems crazy. He knew that the women saw Jesus first, that the men were the ones who were overly emotional and paralyzed by grief, and he finally sees the truth, he now understands that God’s plan doesn’t automatically follow the prejudices and favoritisms of human culture. Despite the chaos, despite turning the preconceived assumptions of culture on their heads, Peter admits that they stood as witnesses to the truth of the story that they shared and the message that they preached. The story that Peter and the disciples were preaching was chaotic, crazy, culturally disconnected, and felt uncomfortable and wrong to many who heard it, but nonetheless, they stood up and swore that this was the truth that they had witnessed.

But where does that leave us? Why does it matter? And what does it mean for us?

And as we read Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, he connects the dots for us. Reading from Colossians 3:1-4, we hear this:

^3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is yourlife, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Paul summarizes the story that the disciples told. Because Jesus died and rose to life again, and because we have chosen to follow him and to put our trust in him, we too have been raised from the dead. But, because have, and because we have this hope for the future, God calls us to live our lives differently from the people around us. We are called to focus on God’s kingdom and not on the things that our earthly cultures label as important. More importantly, we have confidence that when Christ returns, we will live with him in the glory of his kingdom.

Just as God’s presence in the story of creation transformed chaos into order, the resurrection of Jesus on that Easter morning two millennia ago has transformed the confusion and chaos of our culture into a calm assurance for our future and for eternity.

What began as chaos has been transformed, through faith, into confidence.

Our mission is to remember, and to live out, the words of Peter that we heard in Acts 10. ⁴²He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. We are called to preach, and to tell the world, not because we seek power, or influence, or because we want to manipulate people for our own selfish purposes, but because we choose to share the peace, confidence, assurance, and love that we have found, and because we want to help others to escape the chaos of our culture.

Happy Easter everyone!

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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scriptures for Easter Sunrise

April 5, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon Bible, Easter, faith, Jesus, resurrection

Scriptures for Easter Sunrise

April 05, 2026

by John Partridge

Friends, I am not in the habit of preaching a long sermon at the Easter Sunrise service. I use this time as a musical celebration with our praise team, and for remembering the story of Easter. Since last year’s service used the story from the Gospel of John, this year I have interwoven passages from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Happy Easter everyone!

Where we left off on Good Friday…

Matthew 27

⁶²The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ⁶³“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

______________________

And how the story resumes on Easter Morning…

Mark 16

^16:1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. ²Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb ³and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

Matthew 28

²There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

Mark 16

⁴But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. ⁵As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

⁶“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

Matthew 28

⁸So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Luke 24

⁹When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. ¹⁰It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. ¹²Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Matthew 28

¹¹While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. ¹²When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, ¹³telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Betrayal, Humility, Sacrifice

April 2, 2026April 2, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon Alliance, betrayal, Bible, Broadway, Christ, christianity, church, Corinth, Corinthians, faith, God, Holy Thursday, humility, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, John Partridge, Methodist, Ohio, Passover, Paul, sacrifice

Betrayal, Humility, Sacrifice

April 02, 2026*

(Holy Thursday)

By Pastor John Partridge

Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

What is it that makes your family, your church, your civic organization, or your community unique? What is the story that you tell others about how you started, or about your mission, that explains who you are and what you do? As I was growing up, I often heard that while we were encouraged to try new things, Partridges did not quit. If we tried something new, we had to give it a fair trial. Learning to play an instrument is difficult, and so was wrestling when I only weighed seventy-two pounds. But I wasn’t allowed to quit until I had, at least, completed a year or two of band and at least a full season of wrestling. I stayed in band until my second or third year in college and stayed in wrestling for two seasons until I finished junior high school. Patti and I sent the same message to our children when they were growing up. We encourage you to try new things, but once you start, you cannot quit until you’ve given it a fair chance. Every group, and every family, has similar stories that shape the character of the organization as well as the character of its members. And for the people of Israel, and later for the followers of Jesus Christ, one of those formative and defining stories is the story of the first Passover that we find in Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14.

^12:1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ²“This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. ³Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. ⁴If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. ⁵The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. ⁶Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. ⁷Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. ⁸That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. ⁹Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs, and internal organs. ¹⁰Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. ¹¹This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.

¹²“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

¹⁴“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.

The Passover story declares to everyone that all of Israel, from the least to the greatest, is a family and that everyone is included. It is also a story of God’s rescue and his love for his people.

And it is with this background in mind that we enter the story of Jesus’ betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion found in John 13:1-17, 31b-35 and hear this:

^13:1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

²The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

⁸“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹²When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³“You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴Now that I, your Lord, and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

³¹When he [Judas] was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. ³²If God is glorified in him. God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

³³“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

³⁴“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Jesus knew that these were his last hours on earth and, rather than fleeing to save his own life, Jesus followed the pattern of God, of Israel, and of the Passover, by placing love, family, and rescue ahead of his own wellbeing. Jesus takes on the role of the lowest ranking servant and humbles himself as he washes the feet of those who follow him. Jesus says that just as every person who belongs to the nation of Israel is a part of the family, every person who follows him must be humble enough to wash feet and serve others. The distinguishing character of Jesus’ followers will not only be family but also love and humility. Jesus says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” This can’t be the ordinary love that we see among families and friends, but it must be so extra-ordinary, so singularly distinctive, that people will see it and know that we belong to Jesus.

But there is another thing that makes our community unique and shapes the character of the organization and its members, and it goes beyond who we are and how we act. In 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, the Apostle Paul explains it this way:

²³For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Paul says that he was passing what he knew forward to new generations and that this was a key part of his mission. It was important that he passed on to others the knowledge and teaching that he had received from God. He passed on the importance of sharing a meal at the Lord’s table and remembering Jesus’ last supper, but he emphasizes that each time we share that meal together, we proclaim the message of Jesus’ sacrifice, death, and resurrection and teach others about him. Our celebration of the Lord’s table, or the Eucharist, or Communion, is a reminder to us, and a reminder to the world, of the gift that Jesus gave to all of us. And, like Paul, our mission is not to keep that gift to ourselves, but to share it with others and pass it forward to new generations.

*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Death and Taxes

March 30, 2026 PastorPartridge Blogs Alliance, apportionment, Bible, christianity, church, God, Jesus, John Partridge, Methodist, offering, test, tithe, tithing

Death and Taxes

April 2026

by John Partridge

It is said that the only two certain things in life are death and taxes.

And, since this month is the deadline for filing our federal income taxes, that seems like an appropriate topic. But, maybe not in the way that you might think. Our taxes, local, state, and federal, are things that we, as a society, have chosen to do together, though often they are also things that our elected representatives have decided that we should do and added that burden onto us as well. Regardless of our complaints to the contrary, these are burdens that we have, one way or another, chosen for ourselves.

As United Methodists, I have sometimes heard our conference apportionments described as taxes, but that language is not only officially discouraged, it’s wrong. Despite the feeling that our apportionments are levied on us from afar and, much like taxes, we do have the ability to elect representatives that vote on these things, a fundamental difference remains. While taxes are most often spent on things that we want for ourselves, such as defense, healthcare, highway, sanitation, parks, and so on, our apportionments are largely dedicated to helping others, doing the work of God’s kingdom, and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ outside the four walls of our church. Occasionally, we are on the receiving end of that giving pipeline when local churches apply for grants to do projects that benefit their communities. When that happens, other churches in our connection are helping us to reach for, and to accomplish, projects that would otherwise have been far too big for us to attempt on our own.

But that brings us to what is often an even more misunderstood idea in the church, and that is… the tithe. Several of you, if not more, just grumbled. But most, if not all, of that is why I say that the tithe is misunderstood. First, gifts to God, and gifts to the church… are not tithes. Whenever scripture mentions these things together, they are two separate things, tithes… and offerings. Offerings are just what they sound like. A gift that is presented to God. These gifts, biblically, could be an expression of thanks for what God has done, or as a part of a vow to God, or the fulfillment of a ritual. But regardless, they are gifts that are in addition to, or outside the scope of, an ordinary tithe.

So, what is the tithe?

Scripturally, the Old Testament said that when God gave the people freedom, blessings, land, and abundance, that his people were to return one tenth of what they had gained each year to God in obedience and in appreciation for what God had done for them. A big part of that was directed to the priests of God who, unlike the other eleven tribes of Israel, did not receive an inheritance of land but who relied upon the tithes of the other tribes for food, shelter, and survival. Tithes that were in excess of what was needed by the priesthood maintained the temple and were to be used by the temple leaders to care for widows, orphans, the poor, and anyone who legally, or financially, couldn’t care for themselves.

While this still sounds a lot like a tax, there are several things that are different. First, while God commanded that this was something that his people were to do, it is one of the few, if not the only, command that had no penalty for failing to obey. God never said that failing to do so was a sin, or that he would bring calamity upon those who didn’t or couldn’t tithe. From the beginning, this was an aspirational command, something that God’s people were called to do, but with the understanding that people in poverty wouldn’t be able to do give that much. Second, while God people are often warned never to test God, and there are plenty of stories in which people are chastised or punished for testing God, this is the single and only thing about which God openly invites and challenges his people to test him. In Malachi 3:10, God says:

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.”

Unlike government taxes that we pay out of obligation, self-interest, and fear of retribution, God asks that we give back a small portion of what he has given to us out of gratitude, devotion, and love. Moreover, God promises that if we dare to test him by giving him these gifts, he will pour out even more abundant, even amazing, blessings upon us, not to mention even defeating death and granting us eternal life.

They say that the only certain things in life are death and taxes.

But for the followers of Jesus Christ, we can only be certain of taxes.

And tithes are not one of them.

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The Story of Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Christ

March 29, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon Bible, Broadway, Christ, christianity, church, crucifixion, Easter, faith, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John Partridge, Methodist, Palm, passion, triumphal entry

The Story of Palm Sunday and the Passion of Christ

March 29, 2026*

(Palm Sunday)

By Pastor John Partridge

Matthew 21:1-11 Matthew 26:14 – 27:66

PROCLAMATION OF THE ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM

Matthew 21:1-11

Pastor John:

^21:1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

⁴This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

⁵“Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. ⁷They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. ⁸A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna[save us] to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosannain the highest heaven!”

¹⁰When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

¹¹The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

PROCLAMATION OF THE PASSION STORY

Matthew 26:14 – 27:66

Pastor Chris:

¹⁴Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests ¹⁵and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Pastor John:

¹⁷On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

¹⁸He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” ¹⁹So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

²⁰When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. ²¹And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

Pastor Chris:

²²They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”

Pastor John:

²³Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

Pastor Chris:

²⁵Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?”

Pastor John:

Jesus answered, “You have said so.”

²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

²⁷Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸This is my blood of thecovenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

³⁰When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

³¹Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:

“‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

³²But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

Pastor Chris:

³³Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”

Pastor John:

³⁴“Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”

Pastor Chris:

³⁵But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.

Pastor John:

³⁶Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

³⁹Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

⁴⁰Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. ⁴¹“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

⁴²He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

⁴³When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

⁴⁵Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Pastor Chris:

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. ⁴⁸Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” ⁴⁹Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

Pastor John:

⁵⁰Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”

Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. ⁵¹With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

⁵²“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

⁵⁵In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. ⁵⁶But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

⁵⁷Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. ⁵⁸But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.

Pastor Chris:

⁵⁹The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. ⁶⁰But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.

Finally two came forward ⁶¹and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

⁶²Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” ⁶³But Jesus remained silent.

The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

Pastor John:

⁶⁴“You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Pastor Chris:

⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. ⁶⁶What do you think?”

“He is worthy of death,” they answered.

⁶⁷Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him ⁶⁸and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?”

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.

⁷⁰But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

⁷¹Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷²He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

⁷³After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”

⁷⁴Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”

Pastor John:

Immediately a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

^27:1 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed. ²So they bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate the governor.

Pastor Chris:

³When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. ⁴“I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

⁵So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

Pastor John:

⁶The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” ⁷So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. ⁸That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, ¹⁰and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

Pastor Chris:

¹¹Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Pastor John:

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

¹²When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.

Pastor Chris:

¹³Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?”

Pastor John:

¹⁴But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.

¹⁵Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. ¹⁶At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was JesusBarabbas.

Pastor Chris:

¹⁷So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” ¹⁸For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

¹⁹While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

(CHOIR STANDS)

Pastor John:

²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

Pastor Chris:

²¹“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

Choir: “Barabbas!

Pastor Chris:

…they answered.

²²“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked.

They all answered,

Choir: “Crucify him!”

Pastor Chris:

²³“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder,

Choir: “Crucify him!”

Pastor Chris:

²⁴When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”

²⁵All the people answered,

Choir: “His blood is on us and on our children!”

Pastor John:

²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

(CHOIR IS SEATED)

²⁷Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him.

Pastor Chris:

“Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. ³¹After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

Pastor John:

³²As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. ³³They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). ³⁴There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. ³⁵When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. ³⁶And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. ³⁷Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.

Pastor Chris:

³⁸Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” ⁴¹In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. ⁴²“He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

Pastor John:

⁴⁵From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

Pastor Chris:

⁴⁷When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

⁴⁸Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. ⁴⁹The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

Pastor John:

⁵⁰And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

⁵¹At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split ⁵²and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. ⁵³They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection andwent into the holy city and appeared to many people.

Pastor Chris:

⁵⁴When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

⁵⁵Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. ⁵⁶Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

Pastor John:

⁵⁷As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Pastor Chris:

⁶⁵“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Easter and Kermit the Frog

March 26, 2026 PastorPartridge Blogs Alliance, Broadway, choices, Christ, church, Easter, faith, God, Jesus, John Partridge, Kermit, Kermit the Frog, Methodist, Ohio, reflection, triggers

Easter and Kermit the Frog

by John Partridge

As I began thinking about what to say as we celebrate Easter and see the end of the Lenten season, it occurred to me that we should challenge ourselves to remember the regular appearance of Kermit the Frog on Sesame Street. Frequently, Kermit, in addition to his many other vignettes, Kermit would appear in various sketches asking the question, “What happens next?” In each case, there was a Rube Goldberg (some of you will have to look that up) contraption that Kermit would examine and repeatedly, ask, “What happens next?” And, I think, that’s where we find ourselves as we come to the end of Lent and the beginning of Eastertide.

During the season of Lent, we spent time in private study, Zoom devotionals with Pastor Chris, and both Sunday morning and evening opportunities for worship. In many, if not all of these, we spent time in self-examination considering our sins, our relationship with God, and with one another. But as we reach the end of this season, celebrate Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, and the beginnings of Eastertide and Spring, we should be asking ourselves the question that Kermit has asked so many times, “What happens next?”

It isn’t enough for us to go to school and get an education. All of us, as we approach graduation, whether from high school, undergraduate, or graduate education, must ask ourselves, “what happens next?” Will we continue our education? Will we pursue a job and a career? Will we take a “gap year” and travel? Eventually, life will force us into a decision, but choosing our course and making plans for what happens next is always better than stumbling forward and allowing others to choose for us.

Easter is no different. We have spent six weeks in self-reflection, but what have we learned about ourselves? And, more importantly, what are we going to do about it? I had a professor in seminary who taught classes on how to preach, and to do it well. And in his classes, he was fond of reminding us that while a well-prepared sermon was important, we should often, at the end of each message, answer the question, “So what?” We have spent hours studying, writing, preparation, and rehearsal, the scattered congregation has gathered and listened, but so what? It isn’t enough to do all those things if the congregation departs without knowing what they should do with the information and instruction that they have been given.

After all our study and time of self-reflection, what have we discovered about ourselves? As this season ends and another begins, what will we do with what we have learned?

Have we learned what triggers, or leads us into sin?

Have we considered choices and behaviors that cause us to wander away from, rather than closer to God?

Have we discovered habits and resources that are useful in building and maintaining a richer, fuller, relationship with Jesus?

After spending a season in self-reflection, what have we learned? And, what will we do with that information?

We should do something.

And so, as Kermit often asked…

… “What happens next?”

Blessings,

Pastor John

Are You Marble, Sponge, or Tea?

March 25, 2026March 25, 2026 PastorPartridge Blogs Alliance, Broadway, Christ, church, faith, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John Partridge, marble, Matthew, Methodist, newsletter, Ohio, salt, sponge, tea

Are You Marble, Sponge, or Tea?

by John Partridge

As we pass through the seasons of Lent and Easter, and move ever closer to spring and warm weather, it is worthwhile for us to consider what we will do with what we have learned. After spending time during Lent in contemplation of our need for forgiveness, and celebrating the arrival of that opportunity at Easter, we must consider what we will do with what we have learned, and more importantly who we will be, as we go forward.

A visual analogy that has stuck with me for many years has been to ask the question of whether you are a marble, a sponge, or tea. If we imagine that the world and the culture which surrounds us is a big pot of water, lemonade, or soup, what happens because we are in it? If we are marbles, we take up space, we displace the water, but our presence changes nothing. If we are sponges, then we absorb so much of what surrounds us that we take on the flavor and essence of what surrounds us. But, if we are tea, what we are, and who we are, steeps into every drop and every crevice of the culture around us so that its flavor is irreversibly changed to reflect our morals, ethics, and values.

According to scripture, our calling is to be tea. Or, in the language of the bible, salt.

In Matthew 5:13-16, Jesus said:

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

If we are salt, we don’t just take up space, or absorb the culture around us, but our saltiness flows the other way, like tea, and flavors the world around us. Likewise, as the people of light, we don’t just take up space, or even navigate through a world filled with darkness, we bring light into the darkness. By our presence, and the light that we bring, we show the people around us where the pitfalls lie and reveal a path of safety as we move forward together.

As we consider the lessons of Lent and Easter, and think about who God calls us to be, both as a church and as individuals, let us think about who we will be in the days ahead.

Will we be marbles, sponges, or tea?

Blessings,

Pastor John

Photo by Ablestock.com on FreeImages

Restoring Hope

March 22, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon Alliance, Broadway, Christ, church, dry bones, Ezekiel, faith, God, hope, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, John Partridge, Lazarus, life, Methodist, Ohio, Paul, peace, restore, resurrection, Romans, Street

Restoring Hope

March 22, 2026*

(Fifth Sunday of Lent)

By Pastor John Partridge

Ezekiel 37:1-14 John 11:1-45 Romans 8:6-11

Once again, this week’s selection of scriptures is quite long. But unlike previous weeks, the stories are so good, and so important, that I am reluctant to skip through them. Instead, I will attempt to make my introduction and commentary brief and then use what time I have left to connect the dots for you afterwards.

The theme, if you have read the title of today’s message, is Restoring Hope and so, each of today’s scriptures tell us something about the way that God works and, hopefully, before we’re done, will reveal something to each of us about our roles as the followers of Jesus Christ. We begin this morning by hearing the vision that was given by God to the prophet Ezekiel at a time when the people of Israel lived in captivity in Babylon. Worse, they had only recently heard the news that Jerusalem had fallen and had been utterly destroyed. The people were emotionally crushed and without hope. It is at that moment that God takes Ezekiel’s hand and gives him the vision that he describes in Ezekiel 37:1-14:

^37:1 The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ²He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. ³He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

⁴Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

¹¹Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ ¹²Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

In Ezekiel’s vision, he sees the people of Israel as a valley full of dead, fleshless, dried bones. It would be ridiculous to imagine that any life could return to bodies so decayed, but God commands Ezekiel to prophecy over the bones, and when he does, their flesh is restored and God breathes life into them once again. God declares that he will bring this same restoration to his people in Babylon and through this message, God restores hope to his people.

We see a similar message as Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the dead in John 11:1-45:

^11:1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²(This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) ³So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, ⁷and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

⁸“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. ¹⁰It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

¹¹After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

¹²His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

¹⁴So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸Now Bethany was less than two milesfrom Jerusalem, ¹⁹and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

²¹“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

²⁸After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet entered the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

³²When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴“Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

³⁵Jesus wept.

³⁶Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹“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.”

⁴⁰Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

⁴¹So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴²I 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.”

⁴³When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

⁴⁵Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Mary and Martha are crushed as they grieve the death of their brother Lazarus. When questioned, Martha confesses that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God who was foretold by the prophets of Israel, but even in her confession we can see that Martha is still blinded by her grief, but even so the words of Jesus give her a tiny ray of hope. But after Lazarus climbs out of his own grave, and his sisters unwind his burial shrouds, many who were in attendance came to believe in Jesus as Martha did and were filled with hope.

But, as I often ask, what does that have to do with us? And, as it often is, there is an answer from the Apostle Paul, and we find these words in Romans 8:6-11 as he says:

⁶The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

⁹You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives lifebecause of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Paul says that the mind that is governed by the Spirit of God is a mind of life and peace. But he also says that even though our bodies are subject to death because of sin, the Spirit of God gives us life because of the righteousness that has been credited to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is because of Jesus’ sacrifice that God gives us life through the Spirit that lives in us. These things, these words, like having a mind of life and peace, of being confident of forgiveness, righteousness, eternal life, and the daily strength and assistance of the Spirit of God that lives within us, are like those words spoken to the people of Israel by the prophet Ezekiel and like those spoken and demonstrated to Mary and Martha at Lazarus’ funeral and resurrection.

In short, these are messages that, even in the twenty-first century, are words that give us hope.

Our calling, especially in a world that seems increasingly violent and chaotic, is to share these words of hope so that others can also find a place of peace and rest.

We are a people of hope…

…and our mission is to share that hope with the world.

Photo by gnmills on FreeImages

Visionary Blindness

March 15, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon Alliance, arrogance, blind, blindness, Broadway, Christ, church, culture, David, Ephesians, expectation, faith, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, John Partridge, Methodist, Ohio, Paul, prejudice, Samuel, vision, visionary

Visionary Blindness

March 15, 2026*

(Fourth Sunday of Lent)

By Pastor John Partridge

1 Samuel 16:1-13 John 9:1-41 Ephesians 5:8-14

At the beginning of the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf, in what is known as the Battle of 73 Easting, a U.S. formation of M1A1 Abrams tanks from the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment encountered a division of the Iraqi Republican Guard, including a very large number of Russian made tanks. The Russian tanks had a shorter range than the American Abrams tanks, did not have modern thermal sights and, in the middle of a blinding sandstorm were effectively blind. In the end, over one thousand Iraqi lives were lost and one thousand more were taken prisoner while only twelve American lives were lost, nineteen wounded, and one Bradley fighting vehicle was destroyed. The Iraqi survivors later reported that their tanks and other vehicles were being systematically destroyed, and they couldn’t even see who was attacking them, or from which direction they were attacking.

Last week, we discussed the blindness that stems from blaming others. Whenever we insist that someone else is at fault for our sins and other troubles, we remain at least partially, if not completely, blind to our own responsibility. This week, although we aren’t talking specifically about blame and accountability, we will find other ways in which people with otherwise normal and healthy eyesight can be blind to the things going on around them. As we read the story of David’s anointing as king by the hand of the prophet Samuel, we discover several kinds of blindness. First, as Samuel mourns the corruption and failures of King Saul, we see that he has been blinded by his dedication, his grief, and his fear. And later, as Samuel looks upon David’s older brothers with admiration, we see that he is blinded by his cultural expectations and prejudice. We begin this morning by reading this story from 1 Samuel 16:1-13.

^16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

²But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”

⁴Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”

⁵Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

⁷But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

⁸Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” ⁹Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

¹²So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.

Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

¹³So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

At the beginning of this passage, God chastises Samuel for mourning king Saul’s disobedience to God and allowing his dedication, grief, and fear to prevent him from moving forward. Later, as Samuel stands in Jesse’s home, one by one he looks over Jesse’s handsome and well built sons, and each time that Samuel thinks that the one in front of him is particularly impressive, God rejects them because Samuel is looking at these men through the lens of his culture and its prejudice which informs him that kings should be handsome. But these cultural expectations blind Samuel such that God must instead guide him to the youngest son, David, who had been overlooked and left in the fields to watch over the family’s sheep.

We see the same thing in John 9:1-41, when Jesus heals a man who had been born blind.

^9:1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷“Go,” he told him, “Wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So, the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

⁸His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

¹⁰“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So, I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹²“Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

¹³They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So, they were divided.

¹⁷Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. ¹⁹“Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

²⁰“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. ²¹But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

²⁵He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

²⁶Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

²⁸Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

³⁰The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ³²Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

³⁵Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

³⁹Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

⁴⁰Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

⁴¹Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

The pharisees could not understand how a man who had been born blind had miraculously received his sight. But, even when he told them how it had happened, they were unable to believe it because their cultural and religious expectations prejudiced them against the very things that their eyes and ears told them were true. Some of them could not believe because Jesus did not keep the sabbath in the way that they expected, and others thought that Jesus was a sinner because he was friendly with tax collectors and prostitutes. In both cases, their expectations blinded them to the truth, and a similar thing happened to the formerly blind man’s parents. When they were questioned by the pharisees, they claimed that they didn’t know how he had been healed because they were afraid of what the pharisees would do to them if they told the truth. For them, fear was the source of their blindness.

Finally, when Jesus once again meets the man that he had healed, he asks the man if he, himself, believes now that he has seen Jesus with his own eyes, and he both believes in, and worships, Jesus. Jesus then declares that the purpose of his coming was to bring judgement upon the world so that the blind would see, and those who see would become blind. But when a few Pharisees heard Jesus say this to the man, they took offense to his words and asked if he meant to say that they were blind as well. Jesus answers that the reason that they are guilty, is because they claim to know everything and therefore allow their arrogance to blind them.

If we consider all these ways in which we can blind ourselves to God’s reality, it seems a little disheartening. But more than that, we again find ourselves wondering what we should do with what we have learned. What is it that God wants? What is it that we, as the followers of Jesus Christ, should be doing? And this is one of the things that Paul explains as he wrote his letter to the church in Ephesus, saying (Ephesians 5:8-14):

⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth) ¹⁰and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹²It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

Paul says that you were once blind, you were once darkness, but now you are the light because you are a part of God’s family.

Simply put, Paul says, what God wants is for us to have nothing to do with the things that are done by people filled with, and inspired by darkness and blindness. What God wants us to do instead, is to expose these deeds of darkness wherever, and whenever we can because only those things that are exposed by the light can be seen for what they really are.

The American tank crews at 73 Easting were victorious over the Iraqis because the M1A1 Abrams tank outclassed the T-72 Russian tanks driven by the Iraqis. Despite the poor to nonexistent visibility in the desert sandstorm, the Abrams tank crews could see both heat signatures and radar images when the Iraqis could not. Similarly, because we are the followers of Jesus Christ, we walk in God’s light and can see darkness and corruption in the people and in the culture around us that others cannot. But because we follow Jesus, God calls us to avoid the blindness of cultural expectations, the blindness of prejudice, grief, fear, and arrogance and instead, as people who live in the light of God, we must expose these deeds of darkness, wrongdoing, and corruption whenever, and wherever we can because, only those things that are exposed by the light can be seen for what they really are.

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Year in Review 2025

March 11, 2026 PastorPartridge Sermon

Year-End Wrap-Up 2025

This month (February), we have completed our annual End of Year reports and submitted them to the East Ohio Annual Conference. I won’t bore you with all the details, but I did want to share some of the highlights that may help us to understand where we are and how we did over the past year. The first thing on the list, and the easiest to grasp, is the number of members that we have at Christ Church and how that has changed in the past year.

We ended 2024 with 285 members and 2025 with one less than that. To get there we added two new members by profession of faith, removed one by transfer to another United Methodist congregation, and lost two to death. While we would like to be growing, this is better than many churches with similar demographics. The highlight of this is that we are bringing in new members which, despite our overall loss, is a sign of health. Less hopeful, is that our average attendance dropped from 72 in 2024 to 67 in 2025. I’ve noticed this as I look over our congregation on Sunday mornings. It isn’t really that we’ve lost members, as much as many of our members and regular attenders are attending less often. I am uncertain how we can address this, but I am certainly open to any ideas that you might have.

Another bright spot is in our children’s and adult Sunday school ministries. While it may be difficult to see from what you see week-to-week, total number of children and adults in these groups has increased from 75 to 79. The number of children (age 0-11) has stayed the same, but as those children have grown, they have moved from one age bracket to another so that overall, the number of children, youth (12-18), young adults (19-30), and adults (age 31 plus) has increased. Overall attendance for Sunday school, however, stayed the same at 46, which, I would add, is still quite respectable as a percentage of our church attendance compared to the averages I heard discussed at other churches in our Annual Conference.

Financially, we are in decent shape for the moment. While our giving and income was down a bit from last year, our spending was also down. At the same time, our missions giving, both through the United Methodist connection, and outside of it, increased. We did not, however, do as well in our collections for the United Methodist Special Sundays as we did in 2024, so this is an area where we can, and should, spend a little effort to better in 2026. Looking forward, our budget for 2026 is lower than what we budgeted in 2025 so we are hopeful that our financial footing will remain stable, at least in the short term. Longer term, our declining attendance is a concern because attendance and giving normally shift in the same direction. This is why it is so important for all of us to continue to invite others to visit, and to join, our congregation whenever possible, and to be warm and welcoming to every visitor that we meet.

So, what does that mean overall? Overall, our church is healthy and remains connected and committed to doing the work that Jesus has asked us to do in our community and in the world. But, at the same time, the road ahead continues to have challenges that will continue to require the work of every one of us if we are to grow, and to continue the work that our church has been doing in this place for the last century. I hope that we will all recommit ourselves to doing whatever it takes to make next year’s report better than this one.

Blessings,

Pastor John

Pastor Partridge

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