All Things New

Thanks to all who made the Holy Week and Easter observances at Messiah possible and wonderful! I'm fairly sure that there was something "new" for each of us. Some had never experienced an Agape meal or participated in foot washing. Others had never seen a pastor in full-blown Eucharistic vestments, the Alb and chasuble (aka, long white robe and colored poncho). I had never encountered the opening hymn "y'all: customarily use on Easter Sunday. Of course, our experiences of newness pale in comparison with the disciples' and early believers' encounters with an empty tomb and a risen Lord - but they can give us simple entry points into God's desire for our transformation in the creatures intended from the beginning.

How will you embrace the discomfort of unfamiliarity (newness) during the Easter season? Yes, Easter is a SEASON of FIFTY DAYS, NOT ONE SINGLE SUNDAY! How will we dare to invite the risen Lord to appear to and through us, disturbing our habits and preferred attitudes?

This Easter stuff is not all sweetness and light. Just as any newborn creature or hatchling what it was like to emerge from a place of warmth and protection into the cold reality of life - but I, for one, wouldn't change it. How about you?

Pastor Jeff

We were therefore buried with [Christ] through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Romans 6:4, NIV