From Pastor’s Desk...
My Friends in
Christ:
Does it feel different this year for you from the usual? It
does for me. May is already here and spring flowers are in full bud.
My pool is starting to look real inviting. The schedules are filled
with schools coming to a close and plans for the summer before
us...and Easter is a long time over. Easter day seems like so long
ago already. And very honestly, that’s the way it appears to be in
so many lives that I see around me. But I ask you to remember back
to that day. Do you remember the joy and the excitement that the day
with its activities and its worship and its beauty brought? Over 600
of us gathered that day in worship and the cries of “He is risen! He
is risen indeed!” filled the church and once again the truth of the
resurrection was before us.
But here we are now—almost two months later. The church is no
longer filled to capacity, in fact it looks almost dismally empty at
times. Sometimes it appears as if the excitement is not at the same
level that it was. The enthusiasm of our response to “He is risen!”
doesn’t seem to be shouted quite as loudly as it was that day. And I
have heard the statement made, “Well, what do you expect? It’s not
Easter any longer. Now we’re getting ready for that long dry season
of summer. Now our focus is more on what we are going to do or where
we are to go.”
It almost seems as if it doesn’t ring quite so real to us any
longer about Christ having risen. Oh, I pray that is not the
way—that it is not your thoughts. For it still remains Easter time.
And it will remain Easter into Eternity itself. For Christ is STILL
Risen! Christ is STILL risen indeed! Alleluia. The SEASON of Easter
may indeed now be past, but the TRUTH of Easter can never fade away
and be put into the closet for another year along with the plastic
eggs and worn bunnies. Someone once asked me why we leave those
lilies up on the ledges in front of church all year long with the
other green plants. It’s not that we have forgotten them or have
nothing other to put in their places. This is the reason—to help
remind us that EVERY Sunday is and Easter Sunday. Every time we
gather we can shout those words to one another. We can be filled
with enthusiasm and joy for the truth stands before us—HE IS RISEN
INDEED!
Blessed Easter
Truth to you all.
Pastor