​Spring is such a glorious time! The cold and barrenness of winter gives way to the new life of spring.  Trees begin to bud.  Flowers begin to blossom.  The air is filled with the songs of birds.  Everywhere there is life springing up. It seems so fitting that springtime follows Easter.  The Easter miracle is not just a symbol of new life, but it is the power to find new life in a Risen Lord.  Past failures are forgiven, guilt and shame are washed away, power for living is found in God’s loving grace, as we open our lives to God’s plan and purpose for our lives. 
 
(verse of the week) 
Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and have life abundantly” (John 10.10)
 
(prayer of the week)
Loving Father, thank you for forgiveness in Christ which lifts and restores me when I am weak and broken and offers me new life through the power of the resurrection.  Help me to surrender my life to you and follow you in grace and love, amen.
 
(quote of the week)
Where there is no vision, there is no hope—George Washington Carver

I love Easter with the surprises and celebrations and family dinners.  And I love Easter worship with sunrise services, beautiful flowers and victorious hymns and messages of hope.  Easter is a wonderful and blessed day to celebrate.  But Easter isn’t over.  The resurrection is not just about Easter worship once a year.  For the follower of Christ, the resurrection is something we celebrate each day, as we daily walk with a risen Lord who cares about us.  Peter writes that because of the resurrection we have a living hope that sees us through the darkest night or the most difficult trial as we persevere knowing and God has a plan and a purpose, and most of all, that God is there and God cares!  And because of this hope in a risen Savior, we have an inexpressible and glorious joy.
 
(verse of the week) 
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith, of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1.3-9)
 
(prayer of the week)
Lord, thank you that you have brought forgiveness and grace in your gift of love on the cross, and promise and hope through the power of your resurrection.  Help me to accept your love and grace, and share your love with others, through Christ Our Lord, amen.
 
(quote of the week)
Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime—Martin Luther

This is Holy Week, a week when we pause form our busy schedules and walk again the path that Christ walked in Jerusalem to Golgotha bearing the cross, and there humbly gave his life, that we might know forgiveness and love.  And we hear again the surprise and joy of Easter morning and the power of the resurrection with hope of new life and second chances for each of us.  It is the story of love greater than any other love that can change lives.  Take a moment and reflect on this scripture passage that Christians believe incredibly predicts the crucifixion centuries before it took place and beautifully paints the love of Christ:
 
(verse of the week) 
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we considered Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. . .because he poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. 
For he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.  (Isaiah 53.4-6,12 sel.)
 
Lord, help me to pause from the busyness of life and appreciate the great sacrifice of love you gave on Calvary.  Help me to lean into your grace and love.  May the Easter miracle become new again in my life and may I share your love with others near and far, through your power and to your glory, amen.
 
Let us celebrate the joy of Easter together!—Pastor TJ
 
(quote of the week)
God loves each of us as if there were only one of us—St Augustine

Have you ever feel asleep in the middle of the movie only to wake up and find you have missed the best part?  Life can be that way.  So can faith.  We all need sleep.  It is important and God has made our bodies so that they require rest.  But the challenge comes to each of us as Holy Week begins only a few days from now will that we miss a very special moment in faith if we just focus on the physical.  Peter and the disciples had the opportunity of a lifetime to spend those precious moments in prayer with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.  They could pray with Jesus and they could pray for Jesus when he would have most cherished their prayers.  “Could you not keep watch with me one hour?” Jesus asked them.  As holy week is about to begin ask yourself that question: Could we not keep watch with Christ one hour?  It might be the most important hour as we hear the prayer of Jesus, or pray for one of our fellow disciples who are struggling.  Know that come sleep or prayer, God still loves you even as he did Peter and the other disciples.  Take the challenge: join in the special moments of worship, and prayer, and other Holy Week events and allow God’s Spirit to quicken you in a very special way. 
 
(verse of the week) 
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.  “Could you not keep watch with me for one hour?” He asked Peter.  “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”  (Matthew 26.40, 41)
 
(prayer of the week)
Lord, help me to watch and pray that I may understand more fully the depth of your love, experience more fully the sacrifice you made, and love more deeply as you have loved me so graciously, through your power and to your glory, amen.
 
Open your heart to God’s awesome love!—Pastor TJ
 
(quote of the week)
God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering—St. Augustine