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He is NOT Here, He is risen, just as He said

    EASTER HAS BEEN CANCELLED… or has it?

    Well, no doubt, this is an Historic Easter Sunday. Maybe the first time in church history where the church was not gathered for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

    My favorite children’s book about Easter is, “The Best Thing About Easter” by Christine Harder Tangvald. It is about a little girl answering what she likes best about Easter. She is asked if hunting Easter eggs is her favorite thing about Easter. She responds that she loves hunting Easter eggs, but it is not the best thing about Easter. She responds the same about ducks and bunnies, spring flowers and candy. Finally, she is asked if getting all dressed up and going to church is the best thing about Easter. She says that she loves getting new clothes and seeing all her friends at church, but it is not the best thing about Easter. She says, “I like all of those things, but the most amazing part of God’s plan is that Jesus died and lives again…for me! It’s true! Because Jesus loves me, you see. He loves you too! Oh yes! I like Easter eggs and I like Easter candy and I like soft furry bunnies and fuzzy ducks, and I like getting all dressed up and being together on Easter Sunday, but…the BEST THING about Easter is Jesus! I’m glad Jesus loves me! I’m really, really glad, aren’t you? Happy Easter everyone!”

    A friend of mine wrote:

“We might not celebrate what Easter has become in secular society. There may be no new clothes bought for Sunday. We might not hide and hunt eggs with large groups of people. We might not be able to travel to attend worship services with our extended families, but we will celebrate Easter! We should celebrate Easter every Sunday. We celebrate our RISEN Savior every day! Sure, I do not like the fact that we are not all together under one roof singing, worshipping, and fellowshipping, but we are all together in Spirit! We are the Body of Christ, equipped for every good work. This is the time for the church to shine. This is the time to share the good news with our neighbors. God did not create a building called “church” for us to attend once a week and enjoy each other’s company, like a country club. He designed us, the Church, to be His hands and feet. Now is the time to do what we have been called and equipped to do!

If you need some ideas, look at Matthew 25:35-40, Jesus said to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, show hospitality to strangers, look after the sick, visit those in prison. Of course, this may be a little tricky at this time, but we certainly were not told to sit at home and do nothing. We can write letters, make phone calls, FaceTime, check on our neighbors. This would be the actual best time ever to start worshipping as a family. Read the Bible together. For younger families, find a children’s Bible and read a story each night. Jesus is alive! He is alive in our hearts and He is alive and active in and through you, the church!

Have a blessed, wonderful, spectacular celebration of our Risen Savior!

PASTOR GREG

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FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

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