The Christ Capsule -- FPC sermon excerpt
If the apostle Paul were alive today, he might not write his thoughts in a letter. He might put a message in device called an Earth Capsule.
It only costs a dollar to add your thoughts — not a bad price for immortality. Earth Capsule is a time capsule that uses metal disks to store information that can be read by a magnifying glass. It is somewhat low-tech, reports The Washington Post (May 8, 2006), but the disks are able to store information for a thousand years.
The company that offers the Earth Capsule will collect your information, and then send it to repositories in more than 150 cities around the world. A board of trustees will sit on the messages for 50 years, and then open them up for our descendents to see.
The motto of Earth Capsule is this: “Say something new … and let it get old.”
But maybe you are not interested in having your thoughts sit in a repository. If you want to send a message-in-a-bottle, the Earth Capsule company will take your writing, seal it in a waterproof cartridge, and then dump it into a body of water at one of 44 locations. Your words could wash up on an American beach next week, or on the coast of Australia in a century or two.
Imagine a long-lost letter of Paul, a Third Letter to the Corinthians, washing up on shore after 2000 years. One that says, “You know my command that women should be silent in the churches (1 Corinthians 14:34) — just kidding!”
In First Corinthians 15, Paul sent a message that made it to the church of Corinth in Greece, to churches throughout the Mediterranean, to churches around the world, and finally to churches today. It’s a message that has been written on papyrus, inked on parchment, printed in Bibles, and posted on the Internet. Paul said something new, and then he let it get old — fortunately for us, his message survived the centuries, without the benefit of an Earth Capsule.
Paul's message is both profound and personal, telling us about his experience of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He says to the Corinthians, “I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Paul begins by summarizing, in a few short lines, the story of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He does this because he needs to remind the Corinthians of the good news that he proclaimed to them in person — the good news which they received, in which they stand, and through which they are being saved (vv. 1-2).
Then things get personal. The Risen Christ appeared to Cephas, to the twelve disciples, to more than 500 Christian brothers and sisters, to James, and then to all the apostles. “Last of all,” records Paul, “he appeared also to me” (vv. 5-8). Paul puts down his own personal experience of the resurrection of Jesus, one that happened long after Christ had ascended into heaven. He reports on his own encounter with Christ along the road to Damascus, and he does this in a very matter-of-fact way. He’s not trying to brag, not trying to make a big deal of it. He’s simply trying to record the fact for all posterity.
Paul is creating his own little “Christ Capsule.” One that tells us that God has raised Jesus to new life, and he gives us new life as well.
It only costs a dollar to add your thoughts — not a bad price for immortality. Earth Capsule is a time capsule that uses metal disks to store information that can be read by a magnifying glass. It is somewhat low-tech, reports The Washington Post (May 8, 2006), but the disks are able to store information for a thousand years.
The company that offers the Earth Capsule will collect your information, and then send it to repositories in more than 150 cities around the world. A board of trustees will sit on the messages for 50 years, and then open them up for our descendents to see.
The motto of Earth Capsule is this: “Say something new … and let it get old.”
But maybe you are not interested in having your thoughts sit in a repository. If you want to send a message-in-a-bottle, the Earth Capsule company will take your writing, seal it in a waterproof cartridge, and then dump it into a body of water at one of 44 locations. Your words could wash up on an American beach next week, or on the coast of Australia in a century or two.
Imagine a long-lost letter of Paul, a Third Letter to the Corinthians, washing up on shore after 2000 years. One that says, “You know my command that women should be silent in the churches (1 Corinthians 14:34) — just kidding!”
In First Corinthians 15, Paul sent a message that made it to the church of Corinth in Greece, to churches throughout the Mediterranean, to churches around the world, and finally to churches today. It’s a message that has been written on papyrus, inked on parchment, printed in Bibles, and posted on the Internet. Paul said something new, and then he let it get old — fortunately for us, his message survived the centuries, without the benefit of an Earth Capsule.
Paul's message is both profound and personal, telling us about his experience of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He says to the Corinthians, “I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Paul begins by summarizing, in a few short lines, the story of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He does this because he needs to remind the Corinthians of the good news that he proclaimed to them in person — the good news which they received, in which they stand, and through which they are being saved (vv. 1-2).
Then things get personal. The Risen Christ appeared to Cephas, to the twelve disciples, to more than 500 Christian brothers and sisters, to James, and then to all the apostles. “Last of all,” records Paul, “he appeared also to me” (vv. 5-8). Paul puts down his own personal experience of the resurrection of Jesus, one that happened long after Christ had ascended into heaven. He reports on his own encounter with Christ along the road to Damascus, and he does this in a very matter-of-fact way. He’s not trying to brag, not trying to make a big deal of it. He’s simply trying to record the fact for all posterity.
Paul is creating his own little “Christ Capsule.” One that tells us that God has raised Jesus to new life, and he gives us new life as well.
posted by Henry Brinton | 11:22 AM
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