Sunday, March 18, 2012

Easter: A New View


Hello everyone,
    It's time for another weekly update. I keep telling myself winter is not over, but the weather we've been having makes me wonder. I suspect there are yet some cooler temperatures in store. I've seen crocus and daffodils protruding from snowbanks in other years.
    After a visit to our accountant this week, we found we owe some taxes. I guess it's a good sign when that happens. At least we know we're not going in the hole. I could go political here, but I won't...
    Moving on to some thoughts on the Easter season... I have been receiving some email devotionals during this season. One in particular caught my attention, and I'd like to share an excerpt from it. The author challenges us to look at Easter from a different perspective.
   He writes: "This is exactly what I'd like to see us do with Easter. I'd like to see us standing in a new place, somewhere outside the realm of the familiar, taking a look at Jesus' cross, passion and resurrection--beholding with new eyes!
   Imagine arriving at Palm Sunday (the week before Easter) with your devotional life finely tuned, your understanding of God's grace well-practiced, your walk with Jesus in full stride, and your sense of expectation fully engaged. Consider the implications:
  •     What if we allowed everything Jesus achieved and is achieving to impact us as if we heard it for the very first time?
  •     What if we've been looking at forty days of Lent from the standpoint of tradition rather than living faith?
  •     What if our understanding of Easter has everything to do with religion and almost nothing to do with a transformational encounter with the living God?
  •     What if we did something new this year, and all of that changed?" **
    I'm trying to keep this in mind as I prepare my messages for this Easter season. I pray we all are able to see and understand what God was really doing, when he allowed his only Son to be the sacrifice for our sins. How much different would our lives be if that were to happen? What if?

In Him,
Pastor Jerry

**Reaching Toward Easter (Derek Maul)

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