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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 3/31/2010 3:23 PM | Greetings on this gorgeous day!
It has already happened…but we need it to happen again. It is almost here…but still, it seems a long way off.
That in a nutshell is what Easter seems to be all about. We will gather on Sunday to celebrate the fact that the resurrection did happen, yet we still ache for resurrection in our own lives. We know that it is almost here, but can’t it just hurry up? As much as I love Lent and the buildup to Easter…as much as I love the celebration that will take place on Sunday all over the world…as much as I thankful for what Easter means to us all, I wonder sometimes if we don’t do the celebration a disservice by concentrating so much energy on one particular celebration on one particular day.
Oh, don’t get me wrong: the resurrection of Jesus is the most amazing, miraculous, life changing event I can even imagine. I give thanks every day for the fact that through Jesus, death has been overcome. I revel in each opportunity to celebrate this event that changed all of history. But I wonder why we heap all the celebration onto one day? Our Christian calendar says that the Sundays between Easter and Pentecost are a season called “Eastertide”, but still, we don’t often spend time talking about resurrection and Easter throughout that season. And I wonder why?
Is it because Easter is the culmination of several weeks of hard introspective thought and prayer? Is it because we just don’t have the energy to do that more than once a year? Is it because we have just become accustomed to doing it that way?
I honestly don’t have the answers to some of these questions. But I do have a suggestion. Let’s have the most wonderful Easter possible this Sunday, and then, let’s not stop celebrating! Let’s not stop asking “Easter” questions. Let’s move through Eastertide always keeping in mind that what happened on Easter affects us every day of our lives, not just one day a year. To that end, I am going to be preaching a series of sermons throughout Eastertide that get at practical living issues viewed through the lens of Easter; the lens of resurrection and new life. Theoretically, Christians gather on every Sunday of the year because Sunday was the day that Jesus rose from the dead, and thus, every Sunday becomes a feast day, a “little Easter”. I think we should take that to heart.
Easter is my favorite church holiday of the year. It comes with great anticipation, great joy and great hope for the future. It reminds us of what has been done on our behalf. It convicts us, again, that we are the body of Christ and much is expected of us. It is day of new beginnings, and this year, I challenge you to approach this new beginning with the idea that every day is an Easter celebration, every day is a new beginning, every day is reason to celebrate. For Christ is risen, Christ is risen, indeed. Each and every day.
For an updated prayer list and calendar of coming events, please go to www.brookhavenchrsitian.org
Upcoming events:
Join us for our Maundy Thursday worship service in the sanctuary at 7:00 tomorrow, April 1. This year we will mark Maundy Thursday with “A Service of Remembrance and Reconciliation” that will help lead us through Good Friday and toward the joy of Easter morning.
The Good Friday Vigil will take place Friday April 2nd from noon until 3:00 p.m. in the sanctuary. Come and pray as you are able.
If you have taken empty Easter eggs home to be filled for the Easter Egg hunt immediately following worship on Sunday, please bring the FILLED eggs to church on Sunday and deposit them in the bin outside the church office so they can be hidden for the little ones!
It’s a busy day Sunday:
o Brookhaven Community Ministries Easter Sunrise Service at 7:00 a.m. on the lawn of Oglethorpe Presbyterian Church.
o Congregational Fellowship Pot Luck Breakfast in the Fellowship hall from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Bring a dish or two to pass and begin your Easter Celebration with a wonderful meal with your church family.
o 9:45: Sunday School for all ages.
o 11:00 Easter Worship Service: Come and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus as we gather for worship in the sanctuary.
o 12:15: Easter Egg Hunt (on the front lawn – if the weather cooperates – and I have it on the highest authority that it will!)
For your prayer list
Please keep the family of Letha Morris, who passed away on Palm Sunday and whose funeral was held yesterday here at BCC, in your prayers during this difficult time.
Please keep Bill and Evelyn Lester in your prayers as Bill continues to recover from back surgery and complications following surgery. He is progressing nicely and has been transferred out of the Critical Care Unit and into a private room.
Mike Parker has sustained some unknown arm injury and is having an orthopedic specialist take a look at it. Please keep Mike in your prayers as he seeks relief from pain and they discover it’s cause.
Please keep all those who are traveling in your prayers that they might return refreshed and safely to us.
I hope you can join us for any and all of our Holy Wweek activities, including worship on Sunday. The sermon is entitled “The Easter Response” and the scripture is John 20: 1-18 | | | Permalink | Trackback |
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