Pastor's Page 04-01-2025
Dear Church Family,
This month we will be celebrating Holy Week. I hope you are as excited as I am. I love Holy Week. Children waving palms and singing joyously as we celebrate Palm Sunday, stopping on Maundy Thursday to remember the Last Supper with Jesus and His disciples and celebrating communion together as a church family, stopping at the cross on Good Friday as we worship and reflect upon the crucifixion and all that means to us, and ending with the exhilarating time of worship on Easter morning.
Lloyd Ogilvie writes it so beautifully…The purpose of Easter is not to tell us we should live better lives. It is not a time for moralizing or compulsive improvement programs. Easter is the celebration of victory---Christ’s and ours. So often we come to church to get insight, wisdom, and strength for our preconceived direction. We usually leave disappointed and unchanged because we want His guidance or sanction on our lives so we can be more religious. That’s not Easter. The resurrection happens when people can do nothing for themselves or for God. It is when our knowledge of Jesus’ life and message has driven us to cry out, “Lord, I can’t do it, I can’t change, I can’t love, I can’t forgive, I can’t take it any longer!” This is when it happens. Only then can we hear Him say, “Because I live, you shall live also!” Then we can join the magnificent procession of the Christ-encountered, Christ-liberated, Christ-healed, Christ-changed, Christ-filled people who shout the Easter refrain: Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Over the years as a pastor, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are usually poorly attended. It saddens my heart! Could we make a difference this year? We celebrate the victory of Jesus over the cross and the grave. That same resurrection power is available to you and me as we say YES to Jesus in our lives. I would encourage you to set the time aside right now. In so doing, may we each be able to focus upon ALL that Jesus has done and will continue to do in our lives…Come be part of that great procession…for the victory is ours!
Love being your pastor!
Love and Blessings in Jesus!
Pastor Alice