I Can Only Imagine 04/21/19

Stone Mountain Park, Stone Mountain, Georgia

He is not here; He has risen, just as He said!  ~ Matthew 28:6

What a glorious memorial today is!  Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Creator of the Universe, Son of God, the Great I AM, who suffered and died for us, conquered death and rose again and now sits at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us!  Hallelujah!

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! 
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia! 
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! 
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia! 
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia! 
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia! 
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia! 
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia! 
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia! 
Where’s thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia! 
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia! 
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia! 
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

– written in 1739 by Charles Wesley

Today, I’ve chosen to allow Josh McDowell to bring the message.  Below is a section from one of his books that I discovered during my research.  I can’t write any better than this.  😊

RESURRECTION FACTS TO BE RECKONED WITH

Whatever one believes about Christ and his resurrection, everyone has to admit that something significant happened on that morning – significant enough to alter the course of history. That “something” was so dramatic that it completely changed 11 men’s lives, enabling them from that time on to endure abuse, suffering and even death. That something was an empty tomb! If you wish to rationalize away the events surrounding Christ and his resurrection, you must deal with certain facts. Let’s consider these historical facts for a moment:

Fact #1: The Roman Seal Was Broken On Easter morning the seal that stood for the power and authority of the Roman Empire was broken. No one denies this fact. The stone [in front of the tomb] could be sealed only in the presence of the Roman guards who were left in charge. The purpose of this procedure was to prevent anyone from tampering with the grave’s contents. After the guard inspected the tomb and rolled the stone in place, a cord was stretched across the rock and fastened at either end with sealing clay. Finally, the clay packs were stamped with the official signet of the Roman governor. Because the seal was Roman, it verified the fact that Christ’s body was protected from vandals by nothing less than the power and authority of the Roman Empire. Anyone trying to move the stone would have broken the seal and thus incurred the wrath of Roman law and power. The consequences for breaking that seal were severe, even resulting in death! Would Christ’s disciples have broken the seal? Hardly! After his arrest they showed signs of craven cowardice and hid themselves. Peter even denied that he knew Christ.

Fact #2: The Tomb Was Empty. Another obvious fact that Sunday morning was the empty tomb. No one ever denied that the tomb was empty. It is significant that after the resurrection, the suddenly emboldened disciples of Christ did not go off to Athens or Rome to preach that he had been resurrected; they went right back into the city of Jerusalem where, if what they were claiming was false, their message would have been easily disproved. The resurrection claim could not have been maintained for a moment in Jerusalem if the tomb had not been empty. One of the most compelling pieces of evidence showing that the tomb was empty is the fact that it was first discovered by women. In first-century Palestine, women had a low status as citizens or legal witnesses. Except in rare circumstances, Jewish law precluded women from giving testimony in a court of law. Why would those who wanted to advance Christianity have contrived a legend that embarrassed the disciples by having them flee during the crucifixion and yet have women discover the empty tomb? Common sense tells us that the only reason women were reported as the first witnesses is because it was the truth.

Fact #3: The Large Stone Was Moved. The first thing that impressed the people who approached the tomb was the unusual position of the two-ton stone that had previously been lodged in front of the doorway. All of the gospel writers mention the removal of this enormous stone. In fact, the stone was in such a position up a slope away from the entire massive sepulcher that John had to use a different Greek verb, airo, which means “to pick something up and carry it away.” If the disciples had come and tiptoed around the sleeping guards, why would they have moved the two-ton stone up a slope away from the entire massive grave to such a position that it looked like someone had picked it up and carried it away? The needless effort would have been noisy and taken valuable time and energy. Those soldiers would have been deaf not to have heard the commotion.

Fact #4: The Roman Guard Went AWOL. The Roman guard fled and left their place of responsibility. This is a very odd fact that must be explained. Dr. George Currie, who carefully studied the military discipline of the Romans, reports that the death penalty was required for various duty failures such as desertion, losing or disposing weapons, betraying plans to the enemy, and leaving the night watch. To the above, one can add “falling asleep.” One way a guard was put to death was by being stripped of his clothes, and then burned alive in a fire started with the garments. The history of Roman discipline and security testifies to the fact that if the tomb had not been empty the soldiers never would have left their position. Fear of the wrath of their superiors and the ensuing death penalty meant they paid close attention to the most minute details of their job. Dr. Bill White, formerly in charge of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, makes several critical observations about the Jewish authorities bribing the Roman guard: “If the stone were simply rolled to one side of the tomb, as would be necessary to enter it, then they might be justified in accusing the men of sleeping at their posts, and in punishing them severely. If the men protested that the earthquake broke the seal and that the stone rolled back under vibration, they would still be liable to punishment for behavior which might be labeled cowardice. But these possibilities do not meet the case. There was some undeniable evidence which made it impossible for the chief priests to bring any charges against the guard. The Jewish authorities must have visited the scene, examined the stone, and recognized its position as making it humanly impossible for their men to have permitted its removal. No twist of human ingenuity could provide an adequate answer or a scapegoat and so they were forced to bribe the guard and seek to hush things.” –Taken from Evidence for the Resurrection © 2009 Josh McDowell Ministry and Sean McDowell, Chapter 16 and Jesus: Dead or Alive © 2009 Josh McDowell Ministry and Sean McDowell, Chapter 6

We worshiped on top of a mountain this year! 

That’s just one of many things that were different about this Easter for us (not counting missing our family gathering! ☹ ).  These are our sons and their families on Easter:

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We wore jeans and hiking boots – – and several layers of coats, and scarves, and gloves, and hats!  It was only 39 degrees on top of that mountain and there was a stiff breeze!  I didn’t fix my hair or wear any makeup, and certainly, most definitely NOT a dress – for the first time ever.  We arrived at the trailhead at 5:10am and made it to the top with our flashlight (and those of others on the way up) and an almost full moon and clear sky, by 5:40am.  Which was also a first for us, as we’ve never arrived that early for church, nor exercised that much to get there.  And I can say that we’ve never been as cold either.  Not even when the air conditioning’s been blasting in a sanctuary. 

Since breakfast was only a quick bite at 4:20am, we took a snack with us.  It seemed strange to eat on the mountainside, waiting for the Easter service to begin.  But then again, if you think about it, Jesus fed his congregation lunch on at least two occasions.  😊  And looking around at all the people sitting on the hill made us think of Jesus teaching the masses . . . . except He didn’t have microphones and speakers. 

It was a wonderful worship experience! 

We sang hymns like the one above and “He Arose” and before the service, they played recorded old hymns played on an organ, as we watched the sun come up.  And they mentioned that this was the 75^th year for this service, which began when a Sunday School teacher in 1943 wanted to take her students to the top of Stone Mountain to worship.  One of those students was in the congregation today!  Not sure if she walked up . . .

This morning’s message was given by Montel Jordan.  He eluded to the fact that he was famous once upon a time, and he must have become a Christian sometime in the past 10 years because, since we didn’t know him, we looked him up when we got home.  We recognized his most famous song “This is How We Do It”, but the snippet of video we saw and other things were just about as far from pastoral as you could get.  In 2010, he felt called to leave the industry and began pursuing a pastoral ministry.  You can read a good interview with him at religiomag.com.  If you want to see how God moved in his life, and I highly recommend it, check out the interview.  He is currently the worship pastor at Victory World Church near the Atlanta area. 

Oh.  And lest I forget – his Easter message today was simple and from the heart and excellent!  He presented a clear call to come to Jesus this morning – whether you were a non-believer or a believer who’s been enticed away from practicing your faith by the world.

We returned to our Jeep around 8:45am. 

Since we decided to eat our Easter meal for lunch instead of dinner, we got started on that – ham warming up in the crockpot and Southern green beans with potatoes and a salad.  That’s it.  I confess it was a bit melancholy, despite the joyous occasion.  We were missing our family, and even more so once we discovered that they didn’t spend the holiday together.  We found that very sad.

After our dinner, we headed out into the Park.  During our drive, we noticed a ton of people enjoying the Park picnic areas!  And I mean a ton!  That’s good, but kinda surprising on Easter Sunday.  But I don’t know why it surprised us.  It’s not like home in Ohio where Easter could actually come with snow on top of the crocus and daffodils.  😊

Our first stop was the Carillon because it’s on a schedule. 

So nice to listen to Ms. Florence play!  Although we found it a bit odd that with all the hymns she played, none of them were Easter hymns per se.  Still, there were some really old ones, like “Whispering Hope”.

Melodious tones waft through the air at Stone Mountain Park as families picnic, cyclists whiz around the mountain and hikers ascend the giant monolith. Familiar tunes such as Georgia on My Mind, Deep Purple and Puff the Magic Dragon come at unexpected times for those engaged in exercise, recreation and relaxation. Many folks probably wonder just where the music is coming from.

Those tones emanate from a unique multi-million-dollar instrument with a distinguished past, and its mistress is a woman whose association with the park has spanned decades and who comes with a surprising background.

The instrument is the carillon, which made its debut at the New York World’s Fair in 1964 and was brought to metro Atlanta by the Coca-Cola Company in 1969.

Stone Mountain Park’s 732-bell carillon is the largest electronic carillon in the world, according to park officials. The most visible part of the redwood and steel carillon stands 13 stories tall and is one of the park’s iconic structures.  However this isn’t the instrument itself, just the outside of the spiraling and aesthetically appealing speaker system, which hides 60 speakers. To get to the music maker, one has to travel down a paved road, then walk along a path through the woods. Here music lovers can sit in a pavilion area with five tiers of outdoor seating under an overhang and watch as the visible part of carillon, which is contained in a small building with glass windows, is being played. The rest of the instrument’s complex mechanics are underground.

This is where Mabel Florence has held court for 40 years. She is the carillonneur and performs live on Saturdays at noon and 4 p.m. and on Sundays at 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Her taped concerts are rebroadcast the other days of the week.

Florence was a harpist all through high school but got the job playing the carillon, in part, because of her already established association with Stone Mountain Park, where for five years she was a technical draftsman—readying blueprints for many of the early developments at the park such as the campgrounds. She’s been playing the park’s carillon since 1974. (Herby Coch was the only other musician to play the carillon at the park.)

Florence, whose intimate knowledge of the mechanics of the carillon can leave one’s head spinning, described the bells as actually “jewel-grade Belgium bronze rods” and the hammers that hit them as the one-third the size of a grain of rice.

“You don’t control this,” said Florence with a laugh while seated at the carillon’s console on a sunny afternoon. “It has a mind of its own.”

The carillon has buttons with such descriptive labels as “Gothic,” “Flemish,” “Celestial” and “Baroque,” which Florence said changes the tone of the bells

In addition to knowing which keys, tone buttons and food pedals to touch and press, Florence said she also has to take into consideration the strength and direction of the wind and whether to play slower or faster on certain days since the wind carries the sound and can affect how the music resonates.

Florence said she doesn’t come with a playlist and doesn’t use sheet music—playing whatever strikes her fancy or is requested by fans and the curious who trek down the path. How Great Thou Art is the most requested song and love songs generally are what people ask her to play. She often hosts foreign visitors such as a recent group of Russians, people in the park for family reunions and men who are grudgingly dragged there by their wives and become fascinated by the instrument’s mechanics.

Florence, who has a wicked sense of humor, speaks with reverence of the carillon and how much she enjoys playing it and sharing it with the audience.

“You have to play with the audience,” said Florence, who will sometime play a tune like Let Me Call You Sweetheart when senior citizens come by or It’s a Small World After All when kids are around. “Let them enjoy it as much as you do.”

Asked how long it took her to learn to play the instrument, she quipped, “I’m still working on it.”

The care of the carillon has become a family affair. Florence’s son Don Sharp handles maintenance of the instrument affectionately known as “the baby.”

She estimates that the instrument cost $4 million in 1964 and is now worth $8 million.

Florence said she’s expecting a crowd on Easter Sunday. It’s become something of a tradition for her guests to show up “all dressed up.”

Asked how long she expects to continue playing, Florence said, “When I quit enjoying it, I won’t do it anymore.” ~ taken from thechampionnewspaper.com

There was a walking path from the organ to the tower. . .

After enjoying the music for a while (and we were just about the only ones there at her 1pm show), we took on another trail.  We’ve decided that there are no easy trails here.  This approximately one mile trail, took us an hour to hike.  Granted, that’s with picture stops, but still, that’s a really slow pace for us.

Next up was a drive to the Quarry Exhibit.  This was a really interesting stop that educated us on the mining operation that ran for over a hundred years – – if you can believe that!  Over one hundred years!  We looked at that mountain, and you can hardly tell.  And yet, the signs informed us that during that time, 7,645,700 cubic feet of granite was removed – enough to stretch one foot long paving stones 12,444 miles!  But I think what really impressed us was the list of all the things the granite was used for in 39 states and four countries – things like the Panama Canal locks, the US capital steps, schools, hospitals, courthouses, office buildings, and a lot of Post Offices.

And just after we arrived, the Park train came rolling by, so we got to wave to a lot of people! And they waved back!  😊

We were back home by 3:30pm and watched the wonderful movie, “I Can Only Imagine”.  If you haven’t seen it, we recommend it!  It’s about the life of the Christian artist, Bart Millard, lead singer of the band Mercy Me. He’s the one who wrote the song by the same name, which wonders about what life in Heaven will be like.

Tomorrow promises to be another lovely day to worship and praise our Risen Savior!