There will be no weekly word from April 20. Pastor will be back with the next installment on April 27.
This Sunday, April 17, is Easter Sunday.
Services are at 7:15 a.m. (Pastor leads with guitar), 9 a.m. (Praise Team leads the music), and 10:45 a.m. (Brass, Bells, and Choir). We will celebrate Holy Communion at the 9 and 10:45 services. The sermon will be: Swallowed Up in Victory
The readings are:
Message: Holy Week – Fasting to Feasting
What are you giving up for Lent?
- A time for fasting and repentance.
Why don’t we have a corresponding action for Easter?
- A time for feasting and celebration.
Feasting vs. Gluttony
- Biggest difference – Joy!
- Right relationship with God’s good gifts.
50 Days of Feasting
- Easter Dinner
o
Ham, Funeral Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Rutabaga,
and Pineapple Upside Down Cake.
o
Family favorites for the Sunday Dinner (every
Sunday is a little Easter!) this focuses us not just on food, but by on family
and the gifts of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
o
Gathering with friends.
- Special Foods
o
Easter Baskets
o
Lamb
o
Pickled Beets with Pickled Eggs and fresh
Horseradish
o
Beer, Wine, or a Cocktail – If you can safely
imbibe!
- Dress Up
o
Tie, Suit?, Nice Shoes
o
Dress, Hat, Bonnet?
o
Required? No. Just for the fun of it!
- Special Music
o
Keith Green’s Easter Song, Newsboys In
Christ Alone, Chris Tomlin’s Jesus Messiah.
o
Hymns – Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Now
All the Vault of Heaven Resounds, I Know That My Redeemer Lives, The
Strife Is O’er, the Battle Done
o
Classical Pieces - Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s
Easter Oratorio, Rimsky-Korsakov Russian Easter Overture
- Enjoying the Creation
o
“April is the cruelest month …” – T.S. Eliot
o
Season of showers and fickle weather, but there
are nice days to enjoy.
- Sharing Flowers
o
Corsage
o
Easter Lilies
o
At the grave of a loved one.
- A Renewed Focus on the Resurrection
o
The Acts of the Apostles – a testimony of Jesus’
resurrection.
o The Easter Greeting – “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!”
Here is the real idea behind all of this: Christ is risen from the dead and that is good news. We have a great reason to celebrate and this joyful event is too big to celebrate in one day. So let’s celebrate it for 50 days, and let’s celebrate it every Sunday.
Sorrow is real. So is joy. Grab it with both hands and revel
in God’s salvation.
Comments