Easter People Seeking Things Above
Holy Week 2008
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is. . . Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. . . Colossians 3:1
During these past weeks of Lent we hopefully have taken some time to focus attention on our own sinfulness – the ways in which we ourselves place roadblocks to our relationship with God. Now during this Holy Week, we are called to walk along with Jesus as he personally eats the bitter fruit of the world’s sin: Persecution, arrest, trial, torture, ridicule and death on the cross. And then, as this observance culminates in the great feast of Easter, we will rejoice in Christ’s resurrection and ultimate triumph over sin and death.
It is one of the ironies of our Christian faith that we live with one foot in the eternal and one in the present. It can be no other way: Jesus, the God-Man, is God’s answer to a world that has always struggled to apply Kingdom values to the human situation. As followers of Jesus, then, our Christian journey involves a lifelong search for ways to apply those Kingdom values, made human in Jesus Christ, to the way we live our daily lives. So Paul’s words that we will hear on Easter morning are no invitation to keep our heads in the clouds and walk away from the world – that is not the Christian way. Paul does call us to set our hearts and minds on those “things that are above” – those eternal values that we see in Jesus’ life, and to apply them to our lives in a world that seems to mock those values.
Are you looking for the real meaning of Easter? God continues to reveal that to us each day. I hope you will join us for our Holy Week and Easter services to hear God’s Eternal Word proclaimed, to give thanks for Jesus’ gift of life, and to be fed spiritually at God’s table. Join brothers and sisters in Christ to celebrate our common life together as Easter People – people redeemed, renewed, and committed to reflect Jesus’ presence in this changing and troubled world. I hope to greet you this weekend!
Faithfully in Christ,
Don+
So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is. . . Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. . . Colossians 3:1
During these past weeks of Lent we hopefully have taken some time to focus attention on our own sinfulness – the ways in which we ourselves place roadblocks to our relationship with God. Now during this Holy Week, we are called to walk along with Jesus as he personally eats the bitter fruit of the world’s sin: Persecution, arrest, trial, torture, ridicule and death on the cross. And then, as this observance culminates in the great feast of Easter, we will rejoice in Christ’s resurrection and ultimate triumph over sin and death.
It is one of the ironies of our Christian faith that we live with one foot in the eternal and one in the present. It can be no other way: Jesus, the God-Man, is God’s answer to a world that has always struggled to apply Kingdom values to the human situation. As followers of Jesus, then, our Christian journey involves a lifelong search for ways to apply those Kingdom values, made human in Jesus Christ, to the way we live our daily lives. So Paul’s words that we will hear on Easter morning are no invitation to keep our heads in the clouds and walk away from the world – that is not the Christian way. Paul does call us to set our hearts and minds on those “things that are above” – those eternal values that we see in Jesus’ life, and to apply them to our lives in a world that seems to mock those values.
Are you looking for the real meaning of Easter? God continues to reveal that to us each day. I hope you will join us for our Holy Week and Easter services to hear God’s Eternal Word proclaimed, to give thanks for Jesus’ gift of life, and to be fed spiritually at God’s table. Join brothers and sisters in Christ to celebrate our common life together as Easter People – people redeemed, renewed, and committed to reflect Jesus’ presence in this changing and troubled world. I hope to greet you this weekend!
Faithfully in Christ,
Don+
posted by Don+ @ 2:19 PM
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