4-5-2015

CHRIST IS RISEN!!  HE IS RISEN INDEED!!

        Psalm 95: 1-2; “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!   Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”

   From that moment on, everything was different.  There are events, both personal and global, that when they occurred changed everything from that moment on.  When humans learned to control fire and use it to heat, cook food, provide light and safety, it changed everything.  When the Chinese invented gunpowder, it changed everything from that day forward.  When Enrico Fermi and his team, working on the Manhattan Project, were successful and the first atomic bomb was detonated, it changed everything from that day forward.

   The day you graduated from school or joined the military or left your parent’s home to begin your life; things changed.  The day you were married, the day your first child was born, changed everything in your life.  It became obvious that “me” became “we” and now “us” was the important pronoun in your vocabulary.  Events in our lives and in our world can be of such magnitude that they change our life forever.

    Sometimes, it takes years to figure it out.  We may have to look back and when we do we see the significance of the event when we look at the totality of our life.  Maybe it was the farmer who thought his neighbor was just making an offhand joke when he offered to sell his farm.  Years later, when he saw the farm sell to someone else for a very reasonable price; he saw how it impacted him.  Sometimes, we see it immediately.  The young person who decided not to ride with a group of friends to the ballgame and they all died in a car accident; saw that effects of that decision immediately.  Major events, planned or unplanned, mold us, shape us and form us into who we are.

    Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, is the single most dramatic event in mankind’s history.  In this event, the course of human history was unequivocally and irreversibly changed.  Through his death, our debt was paid and through his resurrection our victory over death was secured.  As Jesus went first, we will follow.  As he left the grave, whole and unmarred except for the marks he chose to keep, so we will emerge from the grave whole and unmarred.  So celebrate!!  Celebrate the victory that is ours!!  Join in the singing, join in the dancing!!  Join in the hymn of joyous celebration because we who were dead in our sin are now alive in the righteousness of Christ.  We no longer need to live under the scourge of the devil but can live in God’s loving presence with joy and thanksgiving.  CHRIST IS RISEN!!  HE IS RISEN INDEED!!

Gracious Lord, to you alone is the honor and the glory.  In you we have total victory over our adversaries.  In your great love we see our lives changed forever.  Give us the strong faith to always hold onto your wonderful promise.  Give us your peace that passes everything we can imagine or understand.  For you are risen and our victory is secured!!  In your loving name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret