Happy Easter 2019

Grace and peace in the name of our Lord, Jesus the Christ.

Sisters and brothers in Christ, we have spent the time of Lent in contemplation of what God wants for us, what God does not want for us and the grace and mercy that God has showered upon us in God’s Son, Jesus. God’s grace is abounding at all times and all places. Our cup runs over and over and over in a never-ending flow of blessings.

Max Lucado walked us through his book, Traveling Light, how blessed we are and the comfort we can have in our God, if we just drop all the baggage of life and turn it over to Jesus. We were never intended to carry our worries, grief, anger, grudges, and the list goes on. Our God leads us beside still waters and provides the green grasses for our rest and comfort. God is the one that anoints our heads, in front of our enemies.

It is God that does the work. God has perused us in love, from the time of the fall in the garden of Eden and continues the pursuit of Love. God never forces God’s self upon us. We have the choice to live as God intended, through all that God provides in our needs, not our wants. Our baggage of life, disappointment when we do not get what we want, is taken from us, if we only let God in.

Easter is a time of renewal. We quickly approach Easter and have the opportunity to grasp what God is giving us, in Jesus the Christ, who says;

²⁹Put My yoke upon your shoulders—it might appear heavy at first, but it is perfectly fitted to your curves. Learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart. When you are yoked to Me, your weary souls will find rest. ³⁰For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.^[1]

Easter is a time of change. We at First Lutheran, are learning what it is to change. To change our hearts and minds to be more like Jesus.

¹If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, ²make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. ⁴Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. ⁵Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ^[2]

We are transitioning our way of thinking, from inward to outward in mission.

²⁷Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.^[3]

We are called, each of us to carry out the great commission;

¹⁹ Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world. ^[4]

Before we can truly be disciples of Christ, before we can carry out His mission for us outside the four walls of our congregation, before we can take His yoke, we must accept, learn and live out His commandment to us;

³⁴“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” ^[5]

This is not an option, but a commandment, which therefore is not optional, if we are to be disciples of Christ Jesus.

We can and will do this together. We will learn to love. We will learn to love as Jesus commanded and in that, God continues God’s pursuit of us. God will provide for what is needed for us. God wants us to succeed, even when we turn away, God does not.

[A] Missional church is a community of God’s people that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose of being an agent of God’s mission to the world. In other words, the church’s true and authentic organizing principle is mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true church.^[6]

Happy Easter!!
Hallelujah, Christ has risen indeed. Thanks be to God; we will rise in the light of Christ.

First Lutheran 2019 Theme Verse