2026
Peace Be With You
Passage: Luke 24:1-12, 36-39
REFLECTION QUOTE
“Doubt is not a landing spot. It’s a way station. It’s an obstacle on the path. It’s real, it’s hard, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. But neither is it something to desire or seek. What we’re after is Christ. In this life we know him by faith. The mark of following him well is faithfulness. We may enter a dark night of the soul on the journey. We don’t want to stay there, however. We want to come out the other side. We want to live in the light.”
—Brad East, Letters to a Future Saint
“I’m a scientist. When someone says that event was a miracle, it’s natural for me to be skeptical, because until one has exhausted natural explanations, it’s probably not a good idea to say that was a miraculous event…
“But I do accept that in special moments God, who is supernatural, chooses to invade the natural world, and to us that appears as a miraculous event, and that includes especially the most important miracle for my faith, which is the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
—Francis Collins, Former Director National Institutes for Health, “PBS Interview response to the question: ‘What do you do about miracles or an event such as the resurrection?'”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
How have you been impressed with the wonder of Easter? Share how and when the events and reality of Easter began to impress you and shape you.
Read Luke 24:1-12, 36-39. What does this passage show you about God’s character and about being his follower? What challenges, encourages, or sparks questions for you in this passage? Is there someone in this text that you identify with?
In Luke 24:4, we are told the women who arrived at Jesus’s tomb “were wondering” about what they saw. In what ways have you wondered or wrestled with the reality of Easter? What has helped you address your doubts or questions?
The resurrection of Jesus gives us peace for this life, for life after death, and for everything sad to come untrue. Henry Vaughn, a 17th century physician and poet wrote an “Easter Hymn”: Death and darkness, get you packing, Nothing now to man is lacking, All your triumphs now are ended, And what Adam marred is mended.” In what ways are you practically longing for God’s peace (shalom) in your personal life, in facing, death, and in the marred world around us? How does the peace of Easter speak into your longings?
PRAYER
Share with your group how they can be praying for you: what is weighing on you from this past week? What are you praising God for from this past week?
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” Proverbs 3:5