This month's letter from the Pastor...
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Happy
Easter, So We Say! ‘Happy Easter,’ so we say! And with good reason. Admittedly, it is a glorious time of year. Against the bleakness of Winter, the defiant daffodil singularly serves as a harbinger for Springtime. The promise of freshly seeded lawns awaits. All sorts of flowering trees, bushes and plantings will soon dot our landscape with the message of new life. Winter, be gone – Spring is here! And for the church’s part, the message of ‘Christ Risen’ coincides precisely with Nature’s array. The proclamation of the dead man rising, the ‘first fruits of them that sleep,’ will be exclaimed by preacher and choir alike. Hey, for the next Sunday or two, there will be much rejoicing. Happy Easter -- Christ the Lord is risen, indeed! But, while everyone seems happy with Easter’s arrival, not so with the news of Jesus’ resurrection that comes along with it. That news is typically met with surprise, fear, doubt and dismissal. Beginning with daybreak on that first Easter morn and continuing through the final hymn this Easter Sunday, there are some who insist on regarding him as dead. The women who came to the tomb, for example, were terrified and, by at least one evangelist’s account, ‘said nothing to anyone.’ The disciples too, were dumbfounded at the possibility of His rising, both doubting and ‘disbelieving for joy.’ One, Thomas, even insisted on physical evidence of the resurrection, as if he were conducting a crime scene investigation. For those who had opposed Jesus of Nazareth during His ministry, news of His rising to die no more was met with endless opposition, tireless resistance and eternal dread. After all, what He represents in His teachings and lifestyle contradicts the very values to which they had ascribed. To face the prospect of His sovereignty was, for them, ultimate judgment. The Chief Priests and Pharisees, who sealed the tomb and posted extra guards, the Herods who sought to slaughter him from infancy, the rich young ruler who was determined to walk away from Him, the thousands who only wanted bread for their stomachs and not for their souls … a list including modern types who have built their gods of greed, self-gratification and anger non-management … all of these are not rejoicing at the news of Christ risen. For if He and His way of living is God’s choice – they and theirs clearly are not. |
‘Happy Easter,’ so we say! And with good reason. For Christians, it is high time to declare exactly what it is we’re so happy about – the Easter message of Christ’s resurrection - colored eggs and chocolate bunnies notwithstanding. Devoted to Jesus, we are guided through the maze of empty tombs and abandoned linen shrouds to a life-changing posture of believing in and living for Jesus. For those most loyal to Jesus, the Easter ‘surprise’ even becomes more than ‘life after death.’ The Risen Christ becomes a divinely prescribed blueprint for human living NOW. For us who know Him and love Him, our very reason ‘to live becomes Christ and to die would only be gain.’ No wonder that such a happiness would be met with mixed reviews in this world of ours. Never mind. The longer Christ is proclaimed as risen, the more the reality of the message intensifies, a message of Christ’s love for us now and a promise of living with God as our future! ‘Happy Easter,’ so we say!
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Rodney S. Kopp, Pastor ©2004-05
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