Message From Pastor

Pas+or’s  Page

Dear Easter People,

The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

“The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.” Matthew 28:5-6a (ESV).

Last Sunday, on Palm Sunday, the week before Easter, I announced the fact that no other week in history has changed our world like the first Holy Week did . . . for eternity! Everything changed: from death to life; from hell to heaven; from eternal hopelessness to eternal hope; from grief to joy! Everything changed! Or did it?

I no more than made that statement to our congregation than went on to read the following short devotion from Max Lucado, titled “THE MOVEMENT CONTINUES:”

The belief of French philosopher Voltaire: The Bible and Christianity would pass within a hundred years. He died in 1778. The movement continues.

The pronouncement of Friedrich Nietzsche in 1882: “God is dead.” The dawn of science, he believed, would be the doom of faith. Science has dawned; the movement continues.

The way a Communist dictionary defined the Bible: “It is a collection of fantastic legends without any scientific support.” Communism is diminishing; the movement continues.

The discovery made by every person who has tried to bury the faith: The same as the one made by those who tried to bury its Founder: He won’t stay in the tomb.

The facts. The movement has never been stronger. Over one billion Catholics and nearly as many Protestants.

The question. How do we explain it? Jesus was a backwater peasant. He never wrote a book, never held an office. He never journeyed more than two hundred miles from his hometown. Friends left him. One betrayed him. Those he helped forgot him. Prior to his death they abandoned him. But after his death they couldn’t resist him. What made the difference?

The answer. His death and resurrection. For when he died, so did your sin. And when he rose, so did your hope. For when he rose, your grave was changed from a final residence to temporary housing.

The reason he did it. The face in your mirror.

The verdict after two millenniums. Herod was right: there is room for only one King.

Everything didn’t change that first Holy Week and Easter, thanks be to God! It is my prayer that your resurrection faith continues with the movement of Christianity and that you continue to grow in your Easter faith and your Easter response of love as you put your faith, empowered by the Holy Spirit, through Word and Sacrament, into action!

Easter blessings as your life changes . . . and as it doesn’t!

In the Name of our risen and ever-living Lord Jesus,

Pas+or Miller