Watch the video above for an in-depth explanation of Holy Week and why we observe it so closely as a church. Each day we will be providing you with a devotional that we encourage you to take time to read and pray through in preparation for our Easter celebration.
Read MoreYou would think that after a childhood filled with so much danger, Jesus would have lived by one rule: self-preservation. Instead, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even a criminal’s death, in order to save his beloved. Jesus could have wielded his power to save himself on the cross. For that matter, he could have just avoided a lot of pain and suffering by not leaving heaven in the first place. And yet, the great I Am took the form of the most vulnerable human we can think of, a baby, and died the most vulnerable death we can imagine, a Roman crucifixion. Love led Jesus to sacrifice himself to save others.
Read MoreTrue joy is not dependent on happy circumstances. It’s transcendent joy, but it’s not blind to the crushing realities of the world. The apostle Paul, who was not foreign to suffering, described his ministry as “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing”. During heartbreaking circumstances, he rejoices with the constant expectation of God’s faithfulness. Christianity is honest with brokenness but persistent for joy. The musician Bono once said, “Joy is an act of defiance.” He hit it right on the head. Because Joy is more than an emotion, it’s also an adopted attitude that resists cynicism or fear, and it defiantly sets its hope on future promises.
Read MoreAs we join the saints of old and those around the world in remembering Jesus’ first coming, I’m celebrating the peace of Christ with you this week of Advent. The Lord has been kind; He steadies our hearts; and in this time nearing Christmas 2020, here are aspects of peace I’ve been meditating on/learning experientially that have helped to steady me.
Read MoreBefore 2020, waiting with longing hope was something to read about in the Bible. We could attempt to empathize with the Jews, waiting for their Messiah, but we may not have experienced the level of grief and desire they were feeling. But how do we deal with a general suffering experienced by all of us at once?
Read MoreAs I sat pondering our passage from the sermon in 1 Peter this week, it took me back a few years. For whatever reason, I began listening to a political talk show and it hooked me. I didn’t want to admit it, but it did. I became fearful about the security and future of our nation and world. This program promised me principles that could provide comfort and hope of security. The security not promised by a sovereign God, but found in a political agenda and government leaders. This program became my salvation, in a sense, and I became a disciple whose heart was hoping in its promises.
Read MoreI recently read a New York Times article by Nicholas Kristoff called Let’s Wage War on Loneliness in which Kristoff describes the lonely state of Western culture. Kristoff asserts that 20% of adults in the U.S. report being chronically lonely and 50% of adults in the U.S. live alone. And this was pre-Covid19. Given the current pandemic, I can only imagine what those numbers and needs are like now.
Read MoreFor three days, darkness was over the land. Two of Jesus’ closest followers, “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary,” returned to his tomb in order to anoint the body of their beloved. The disciples were in hiding trying to make sense of the chaos, their hopes crushed by the cry, “It is finished.” But then we see the stone rolled away, an empty tomb, and hear that life was again thrust into the body of Christ.
Read MoreThe dream was dead. The One whom they hoped would usher in the Kingdom of God and set them free from their enemies had breathed his last. The text wants us to feel the dramatic reality of Jesus’ death. He really died. Pilate confirmed it. Then he handed over “the body” to Joseph of Arimathea who wrapped Jesus’ body in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb. Furthermore, he lays him in his OWN tomb. Both Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, saw the location of this tomb. These are eyewitness accounts, claims written at a time when other eyewitnesses were still alive who could corroborate them. We are reading verifiable history. Jesus of Nazareth died and was buried and with Him the hopes of this world.
Read MoreJesus was arrested in the wee hours of Good Friday. He endured a series of harsh and unlawful trials that would extend until dawn. The sleeplessness and agony of the garden had weakened his body. His fatigue was exasperated in anguish throughout the long day to come. Caiaphas and Annas, the former and current high priests prompted false testimony and pronounced their judgment. The Sanhedrin pressured the Pseudo-Jewish King, Herod, and the Roman Governor, Pilate, to crucify the Lord of glory. Throughout the evening and early morning, he was mocked and beaten both by temple guards and Pilate’s soldiers.
Read More
![Finding [True] Joy](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55e5d42ce4b0abd912a44a85/1608154027295-QM33LRIE1KP56F7NT2A0/Advent-Squares-02.jpg)
