WORD FROM THE PASTOR - APRIL 2024“How Will We Respond?”
Happy Easter! As we begin April, we enter into the Easter season. If you ever look at the top of the bulletin which lists which Sunday we celebrate in the church calendar each week, you will notice that this month we are in the Sundays of Easter. It is a reminder that Easter isn’t just the event of Jesus’ resurrection, it is a season. It is an opportunity to reflect on Jesus’ teaching before his death and his interaction with his followers following his resurrection. It is an opportunity to learn. It is also an opportunity to respond. The Easter event is powerful not only because it shows God’s love for us through Jesus’ victory over death, but also because it shows us the way people responded to this glorious, awe-filled event. At the empty tomb we see the women respond by telling the disciples, we see Mary respond to Jesus’ request to tell of his resurrection, we see the doubt of the disciples when they arrive at the tomb. Yet Easter isn’t just about the empty tomb, it’s about Jesus appearing to his followers following his resurrection. The disciples’ response to Jesus death was to lock themselves up in a room for fear that they would be next. They sought to protect themselves in fear rather than to continue the ministry in which they had been mentored by Jesus. It takes Jesus resurrection appearance in that room, an encounter with Christ, for them to move from the place of fear to a place of faith (even in the midst of doubt) to move outward. It takes Jesus telling them to go and share the good news of God’s salvation. It takes the personal encounter to give them courage to move beyond self-preservation to joyful proclamation. On Easter, and every day, we have the opportunity to have an encounter with Christ. Every day we have the chance to interact with the resurrected Jesus and through him be in the presence of our God, our heavenly parent. Through prayer and devotions, we can encounter the One who loves us, protects us and strengthens us. Once we have been in God’s presence, how will we respond? Will we continue to live in fear? Will we seek to keep to ourselves what we have learned about God’s will to love each other, to provide and care for the other? Or will we allow that encounter to strengthen us, giving us courage to go out into a scary and needy world to share the good news of God’s salvation and love for all? Let us together be intentional to take time to be with God each day, and in doing so be open to hearing how and where God is asking us to continue the ministry of Jesus in which we too have been mentored. Serving with you in Christ, Pastor Beth |