March

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

As you read this we are still in Lent… but we are drawing ever closer to Easter. Since Easter will arrive before you have the April Newsletter, let’s start to talk Easter now.

This celebration of new life is drawing ever nearer. We wait with excitement not just for this celebration, but for each new day – because we believe in Easter.

Every day things are happening that renew our hope and expectation that Easter will come. As we write this we look back on the last week and Easter is all around.

We watched the Olympics (at least a little). We watched the opening ceremony and saw people from North and South Korea embrace. Some may say, it was all political show. We say Easter can happen and we have hope for the future.

Last week in worship a new baby was baptized during worship. A new life embraced by God and the family of God. Some might have seen it as just another baptism (we have a lot). We saw the joy of Easter as new life is added to our life together. What a joy and what a cute little one.

Yesterday we celebrated Valentine’s Day and we celebrated our love anew. Yes Valentine’s Day may be a created holiday, but so what? Why not celebrate our love for one another which never grows old. Why not celebrate our experience of ever deepening love with lovers and friends and family and even in our life as a congregation. New life, in all the changes and rearranges of life, love is renewed and Easter happens.

That is why during the season of Lent, every Sunday is considered a little Easter. That is why Sunday, the day of the week tied to the resurrection, is our day of worship – because Easter is always happening. Hope

is always rising, new life is always ours as we follow our Lord. Yes we simultaneously stand in the shadow of dust and ashes (Ash Wednesday was also yesterday, and the events in Parkland Florida are open wounds). However, it is in that very shadow that Easter has its greatest power. So the great celebration of Easter is a crescendo to a piece that is being played in our life each and every day.

So join the melody of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose rising from the dead means that every day and every moment is for us an opportunity to sing the song of Easter. May our continued Lenten journey be blessed and a blessed Easter to all of you. New life is ours.

Pastor Cris and Pastor Dave