A NOTE FROM PASTOR MARGE
Growing up, I always had this feeling that I still feel today as a grown woman and even as a pastor. Perhaps you can identify with me a little here. Every year, on the first Sunday after Christmas and on the first Sunday after Easter, I have always felt a little "let down." What about you? Before you jump to any conclusions, just hear me out for a moment. We spend the entire Advent season, so four entire weeks, preparing ourselves for the birth of Jesus. Then Christmas happens and then we are left asking ourselves the question, “Well, now what?” Then we spend forty days, called Lent, preparing for the greatest miracle of all time, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and then we celebrate Easter on Resurrection Sunday. Yet again, we are left asking ourselves the question, “Well, now what?” Another Christmas has come and gone, and another Easter has come and gone. What now? Now what? The sad truth is, now that Easter is over, many of us will not think about the Resurrection for another year until Easter comes and goes again. This is much like Christmas, which also only gets our attention once a year. But, it should not be that way, should it? The joyful truth today is that the Resurrection changes everything about everything about everything in our lives. And I mean everything. When we encounter the Risen Christ, everything changes.
Perhaps, at one point or another in your life, you have heard that God is the “God of second chances.” I am going to have to strongly disagree with this title and I will explain why. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ does not give us a second chance at life. You and I do not need a second chance at life. What we need is a new life; we need Jesus’s life. That is different than just having another chance to try again and hope for a better outcome. It is not about us trying to do better or trying harder but rather, it is about God Almighty doing in us and for us what we could never do on our own and that is free us from our sin and condemnation. However, post-Resurrection Christians realize that for anybody that encounters the Risen Christ, God does not just forgive them, He gives them His righteousness. He gives them a new, transformed life full of meaning, purpose, and mission. Jesus Christ has not only saved us “from” something, He has saved us “for” something. He has commissioned us to carry His ministry forward so that others will know God through our words and actions. The question we all must answer in this life is this: “What is Jesus telling you to do?” Whatever it is, may you step out in faith and courageously follow Him.
— Pastor Marge
