From the Pastor’s Desk - March 2010

I would be lost without my calendar! My calendar governs my days, weeks, and months. Admittedly, sometimes I wonder if I’m in charge of my schedule or if my schedule is in charge of me. From a purely pragmatic point of view I can claim I make all the decisions related to my daily activities. However, that is not entirely true. Something happened over 2000 years ago that fiercely altered the landscape of my schedule as well as my life.

Christians celebrate an event every year that dominates the calendar like no other! Easter! Resurrection Sunday! Easter occurs the first Sunday following the full moon on or after March 21. Easter Sunday is the yearly Christian festival celebrating the raising of Jesus Christ from the dead three days after his crucifixion. A.B. Simpson once called Easter, “The New Year's Day of the soul.” It is the single most important day in the history of humankind. The resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. There is nothing relative about Easter because if it’s true, it’s true for everyone! The Apostle Paul summarizes the theological bombshell of “Good Friday” and “Easter” this way, “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God” (Romans 5:25).

Easter Sunday is not merely a day on the Christian Calendar to observe God’s radical involvement in history. Easter is descriptive of the people of Christ. The resurrection offers us the hope that we are a resurrected people. In Christianity Today J.L. Packer once stated, “You could speak of Jesus' rising as the most hopeful (hope-full) thing that has ever happened--and you would be right!” It provides hope because we literally get to share in the benefits of the Easter miracle. Paul writes, “when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives” (Romans 6:3b-4).

We are an Easter people!  Certainly Christians celebrate that we share in all the blessings the resurrection of Jesus Christ offers!  Do we live like it?  The question becomes than how does this truth “break into” our everyday reality?  How does the resurrection influence our life, behavior, finances, relationships, and our monthly planner?   

On Easter Sunday it is customary to greet each other with this ancient liturgy: 

He is Risen!

He has Risen indeed! 

As we approach the Easter Season may we reflect on how those words have touched every area of life seeking to make all things new! 

Pastor Matt