Well, I didn’t sit down and write anything last month. Had all the right intentions but…
This is almost the end of Holy Week. Yesterday was Good Friday, today is Holy Saturday and tomorrow is Easter. But what does all of this really mean to us?
Passover started on Monday. We did a Seder on Monday evening – the first time that we’ve been able to schedule our Seder to be on the start of Passover. It made the celebration that more meaningful, especially seeing it all through the lens of our Christian experience. But again what does all of this really mean?
I have been really pondering the concept “Community of Hope”. This is what the Church should be. I am preaching on “Love Brings Hope” tomorrow and doing a series, starting next week, “Contagious Hope”. This all centers around some points from the movie, “Letters to God”, which opens on April 9. One of the catch phrases from the resources is “Called 2 Love – Restoring a legacy of loving God, loving others, and making disciples”.
Where and when did we stop doing that? Why can’t we do that now? This has been burning in my mind for weeks (one of the reasons I couldn’t focus and sit down and write something last month).
I don’t have all the answers yet (and yes, I do know the One who does) but there are a few things I do know. First, Easter means that we have the promise that we, too, will rise again. From 2 Corinthians 4: “We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that “the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive.” (The Message). This is definitely a message of hope!
Second, I know that the nail-scarred hands of Jesus show the love-filled heart of God. We have too little understanding of love. God’s love is unconditional, unmerited, undeserved, yet it poured out on us and it empowers us to pour it out on others. The world needs hope in the form of forgiveness, acceptance, and support. We are the tools that God chooses to use. We must be the Community of Hope.
I pray that your Easter be blessed! May the God of Hope and Love fill your heart to overflowing so that you may be a messenger of hope to the world that you live in.
Be well,
Steve
One of the things I have prayed for deliverance from is a the spirit of apathy. I think it is apathy that allows us to "tolerate" evil and "support" poor choices and ignore our chance to throw someone the life line that is Jesus. We are to be that light in a dark place…and I don't know where some of you work, but after listening to the people in my work place… I pray everyday…Jesus…give me the words and the opportunity to show someone your love…thru me.