Message from the Pastor

One of the songs of my youth was written by Richard Avery and Donald Marsh. Its first line reads "Ev'ry morning is Easter morning from now on! Ev'ry day's resurrection day, the past is over and gone!" The song talks about the impact of resurrection on everyday life.

Technically, every Sunday is a little Easter. We worship God on the first day of the week-rather than the Sabbath-to remember Christ's resurrection from the dead and celebrate God's loving action to save the world. Christ is alive. He is risen indeed!

For me, Christian discipleship is a way of living that keeps me connected to the grace of God and empowers me to live according to God's will. It means growing in the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It means practicing concern for the poor. It means loving my neighbor as myself. It means generous giving of my money. It means cultivating a servant heart, so my words and deeds are focused on serving God and not enhancing me.

John Wesley's Covenant Prayer, # 607 in the United Methodist Hymnal:

"I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen."

How is this life possible? How can I possible aspire to such faith, such hope and such love? I know it is not possible on my own.

It is Easter that gives me confidence. The God who raised Jesus from the dead and sent the Holy Spirit on the apostles 50 days later is the same God who is active in my life now. That God can do anything. The way I stay connected with that God is through the means of grace: prayer, Bible study, weekly worship, frequent communion, Christian conversations and service to the poor.

This is hard enough when I am thinking just of my own life and how hard my heart is. It gets worse when I face a world that sometimes is filled with hatred, poverty, anger, dissension, bitterness, war, terrorism, sexism, racism and sexual immorality. What gives me the justification for a life focused on love, joy, peace and human fulfillment?

It is Easter that promises that hope is not in vain.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul puts it clearly: "Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you- unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. And last of all, to one untimely born, He appeared unto me"

This is a faith worth living. In the face of all that is wrong with the world, Easter is God's answer that light triumphs over darkness, good triumphs over evil, and life triumphs over death. That's the good news of Easter, and every Sunday is Easter Sunday.

Grace and peace,

Jim