It's Easter EVERY Sunday!

A post from Pastor Kathy.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Thus begins our Easter celebration – with the old, old acclamation of the Resurrection.

Recently I traveled to Indianapolis for training as a mission redeveloper. Some of the reading I was required to do suggests that redevelopment (or renewal) in a congregation begins by reclaiming the joy of the first Easter. Just as the angel interrupted the fear and confusion of the women at the empty tomb with the message that Christ had been raised and as Jesus shocked the disciples by appearing in their midst, so the joy of the Resurrection can fill our lives whether our lives are too busy or too empty, or filled with grief and pain.

Too often we as people and congregations have focused our attention on the declines we see in our congregations: the dwindling of numbers, the growing elderly population, the lack of young families, and we are discouraged. We are like the disciples between Good Friday and Resurrection Day when they were sad and confused and did not know what to do next.

The good news is that Christ is alive! God is in our midst and we can celebrate, not just in worship or on Sundays, but every minute… hour… day of our lives. We are called to be Resurrection people. Because Christ is raised from the dead we have new life in God. I know these are familiar phrases and thoughts to us. Most of us have grown up hearing them and others like them. The challenge is to live them. Ask yourself, “What difference does it make to my life that I am a child of God? That Christ was killed on a cross and raised from the dead for my sake. That because he lives we too shall live.” If this is the good news we believe, how can we not be filled with joy, regardless of what happens to us in any given day? As St. Paul wrote to the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, Rejoice.” (Phil. 4:4)

That does not mean that life is always easy, that we never experience pain or fear, depression or grief; of course we do. It is in the midst of the sorrows of life that we can trust in God for strength and rejoice in the Lord. We always have a choice: we can let the frustrations we encounter, or even the busyness of life, determine our attitudes and responses or we can live as children of the heavenly Father, rejoicing in the gifts of creation and salvation.

To put it in concrete terms, we can mourn and be depressed about the empty pews or we can worship God with glad hearts and voices because of all that he has done and continues to do in our lives.

We as “Resurrection People” have something to offer our friends and neighbors. We have a relationship with God that is made possible by Jesus. Knowing the joy and peace that God give us through the gifts of faith and forgiveness, we want others to experience the effects of God's grace. We begin by building or strengthening our relationships with the people already in our lives and by starting new relationships with the people we encounter. We become an "inviting" people, asking others to join us in worshiping God and growing in faith. We do this, not because we want to fill our pews, but because Jesus compels us to invite others to join us as disciples of Jesus keeping his commands to love God and each other as he has loved us.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

Pastor Kathy