Message for March 2008

Fellow Ministers -

Easter is just around the corner and I couldn't be happier. It's even better than spring when we realize the world is about to come back to life. The trees begin to bud, the flowers start to poke new green shoots through the long cold soil and we begin to see the green of the grass start to return. It sort of captures the old saying, "Hope springs eternal".

And I sure could use some! I don't know about you but I'm feeling a bit depressed. I want some good news, I want something to look forward to, something to get excited about. And, instead all I can seem to find is depressing news: the price of gas is going up, up, up; the housing crisis and foreclosure rates spiral higher and higher; the threat of terrorism is as high as ever; and who knows what to do about the immigration issue.

I wonder if it has ever been worse. And then I think about living in Jesus' time when just surviving was a chancy issue...When you were in bondage to the Romans and life was incredibly cheap...and I guess maybe I should stop complaining.

It seems to me that the point of Easter is that it brings us new hope no matter when or where we live. I mean let's be serious! Jesus' resurrection is the one thing that transcends all our worries and gives us confidence to strive onward.

What do I mean? Well, let's look at what Easter does for us. First, it establishes that we have value. It reminds us that the stories of our creation are true. God made us in his image, "male and female" Genesis says. He made us with special and incredible gifts. He granted us powers that are unbelievable - the powers to think, relate, communicate, solve problems and be God's children. Second, Easter guarantees that all God's promises will come to pass. God shows us that nothing can separate us from our value -- nothing -- not even death -- because Jesus has shown us that God can and does overthrow any power that comes against him, no matter how final it might seem to us.

Consequently we find ourselves renewed, empowered, and strengthened to face anything the world can throw at us. The reality is that our normal existance can and should turn from darkness to light, from doubt to certainty, from hesitancy to action. The realities that can sometimes burden us and even get us down don't disappear, but Easter opens a new way of looking at them. There are no easy answers to our generation's problems but there weren't any easy ones in the past either. What we do have is the wonderful assurance that we are not alone in this. We have been given the gift of countless brothers and sisters, each with their own special set of gifts. We have been given strength, fortitude, and the ability to think, to care for, forgive, and love one another. When we find ourselves working together and caring strongly we are in fact a formidable force. We have all the opportunities and possibilities that thinking outside the box can bring us. And we know that God will not desert us. All we really need to do is actively participate in the process of life and strongly encourage all we meet to do the same.

It seems clear if we pause for a moment, that we have come an incredible distance. The world has certainly changed for the better over our own history and the future really offers us no less. The challenge for each of us is simply to be a participant and not a spectator.

That's what Easter empowers you to be!

Well, I don't know about you but I'm already feeling better. Hope you can be serious about Easter and reap the renewal for yourself.

Pastor Bill

Last Updated: March 16, 2008