GOLDEN FOR A MICROSECOND
For millennia, the ancients studied alchemy, the quest to turn base metals such as lead into gold. Where they all failed, researchers at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), situated beneath the French-Swiss border, have succeeded…sort of. While most experiments at the LHC involve collisions between ions traveling at nearly the speed of light, resulting in the brief appearance of exotic matter like quarks, this modern alchemy happens in intentional near misses. The magnetic fields of passing ions interact, sometimes shifting photons out of a lead ion, resulting in it becoming a gold ion. But only for about 10⁻²³ seconds—less than the blink of an eye, barely enough time for it to even be recorded by sensors.

ALIVE FOR ETERNITY
In today’s reading, Paul is responding to Christians who think that bodily resurrection is an imaginary idea. Paul argues that if we can’t be raised, it is because Jesus wasn’t either. If Jesus wasn’t raised, sin and death reign supreme, and Christian faith is pointless. Thanks be to God, Jesus will return and the bodies of God’s people will become imperishable. Death has no permanent power over Christ’s followers. We can devote our lives to God, without hesitation.

Questions

• What’s a funny belief that people held in historical times?
• How will you celebrate Easter this year?
• What ramifications would there be if Jesus had not risen from the dead?