Three years the disciples of Jesus had walked with him, and then they had seen him die. Tenderly they had laid his body in a tomb. But early in the morning of the first day of that very next week he broke the power of death, and some of his friends saw him alive walking in the burial garden. He said to them, "Go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee - there shall they see me." In other words, "Go into Galilee and I will meet you there."

They went, those eleven apostles - and perhaps others with them. They gathered there at a mountain where Jesus had directed them, and there he met them. And, my dear friends, it has been happening ever since: to his gathered people he comes - on other mountain tops, in ancient catacombs, in great cathedrals and humble homes, before high altars where his cross of victory stands in gleaming gold, and in plain meeting-places, unadorned except by the devotion of those who have worshiped there.

So here today, as we meet together, he meets with us. He has said: "Gather somewhere, and I will meet you there." In accordance with his wish, we have gathered here; and in accordance with his promise, he is with us. He says, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." It is an experience of worship just to be aware that he is here.