Articles

Why the Week After Easter Matters for Your Faith The week after Easter is a gift, a week to live as a joyful witness to the risen Jesus Christ. Instead of leaving resurrection joy behind at church, you get to carry Christ’s peace into the anxious and uncertain places of your life, just as the disciples did behind locked doors in John 20:19–23. John tells us that on Easter evening the disciples were fearfully hiding behind locked doors when Jesus suddenly came and stood with them, saying, “Peace be with you.” He showed them his wounded hands and side, and their fear overflowed into joy. In that moment, Jesus didn’t shame them for running away during his arrest. He met them right where they were, in their anxiety and regret, and framed everything in peace, not payback. That same gracious pattern is still how he meets us today.

What it Means to be a Witness of the Risen Jesus To be a Christian witness means encountering the risen Jesus in a real way and then simply and honestly sharing what God has done. In Acts 10, Peter tells Cornelius, “We are witnesses” of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and of how the living Christ is still at work, moving, teaching, and reigning in our world today. Peter’s words in Acts 10:34–43 come at a beautiful turning point in Scripture. Up to this moment, the story of Jesus has seemed mostly centered on Israel. But now, in the home of a Gentile centurion named Cornelius, Peter proclaims that God raised Jesus “on the third day and caused him to be seen” (Acts 10:40). As one commentator puts it, this moment is like a hinge where the Gospel opens out from Israel to the whole world, carried by the joyful eyewitness testimony of the resurrection (Bible Hub). Though Jesus was rejected and laid in a rock-hewn tomb, crowned with thorns and surrounded by hardened hearts, the story did not end there.

Holy Week Through the Lens of the Sower’s Vision When you look at Holy Week through the parable of the sower, you see Jesus walking into a spiritually dry and resistant Jerusalem with the steady hope of a farmer who already imagines a rich harvest. He knows the ground is hard, rocky, and full of thorns, yet He steps in anyway, offering His own life so that a new creation can spring up even there. During Lent, you may have heard the parable of the sower and pictured your own heart: at times distracted, at times shallow, at times tangled up in worry and the pull of comfort. That is an honest way to hear it. But pause for a moment and look at the bigger field. In the Gospels, especially in Holy Week, Jesus is not only speaking about individual hearts; He is walking into an entire city that, from every angle, appears to be hopeless soil.

As we wrap up our Easter celebrations, the 40 days of Lent have come to an end. How did your journey go over those weeks? Even though Lent has finished for this year, it offers so much to help you get ready for Easter every year. Explore how embracing Lent's practices and teachings can spiritually prepare you for Easter each year.

In preparation and anticipation for Easter Sunday, Sara, Whitney, and Abby recorded a beautiful song called Graves into Gardens by Elevation Worship. Take a moment and listen to this beautiful rendition.

Easter looked different this year, but we celebrated anyway! Thank you to everyone who participated in Stations of the Cross, whether as a reader or a participant. We were blown away hearing stories of you delivering eggs to your neighbors, egg hunts, chalk art, and other wonderful family events. Check out the beautiful chalk art above that was created by our members! Read below to hear some of the stories that we received from families who delivered Easter Eggs to their neighbor's so the kids could have an at-home Easter egg hunt.

Easter makes a Christian. The events and accomplishments we celebrate each year in the life and work of Jesus distinguish followers of Jesus from adherents to every other leader or philosophy. Jesus makes Easter. Last week, Ivan and Felicita Sikha gave us an opportunity to experience the power and responsibility of story-ing as we imagine new ways to share good news with interested people around us. Followers of Jesus through the ages and around the world have taken time around Easter to tell again the story that makes all the difference. We want you to join us as we tell the story of Easter during the coming week.

"I saw the crosses!" The speaker finished his talk and invited us to come to the altar rail for prayer. I was first out of the blocks. Sincerely convicted of my being judgmental of my parishioners, I desperately needed relief. " If the speaker will just pray for me," I thought, but someone else came.

Dear Friends,