A Letter to The Community: Easter 2021

Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” Matthew 28:9

Friends,

We find ourselves on the edge of the greatest week of our lives in the sacramental walk we make towards the cross and tomb of Easter. At the very heart of this week is a relationship, manifest for us in the way we come together to worship, which is uniquely presented to us in the sanctifying work of Christ’s final days. Through this week we walk the agony of a life utterly destroyed, rejected, and mocked, encountering the fear of control, the fear of freedom and love. Yet the hope we receive in this walk is the compassion of a God who desires to be so close to us that they did not run away when we made life hard- God hung on the cross because of their love for us. It is this relationship that makes the easter greeting at the tomb so profound, because it is tinged with both fear and joy.

The fear we hear is a direct result of a changed relationship, in that the physical body of Christ is now dead, and yet Christ is before our very eyes asking us to declare his resurrection to everyone we meet. What do we say? How do we say it? And what does it say about us as a community in the days, weeks and months after this moment in a post covid-19 world? I believe it speaks to a radical commitment to relationships which break down walls and barriers between people, one which starts with Alleluia! It's good to see you! Just as Christ does for us at the tomb.

This week I invite you to join me on this road we walk to the cross and through the tomb to resurrection, a resurrection which shatters the walls that divide us. As we walk together, invite your friends and family to join us in this life changing journey. The fear of the last year is over, the vaccines are working, and the work of racial reconciliation is before us as we continue to tear down the systems and walls which keep us unequal in this world. Announcing Christ’s resurrection is about embracing our redemption and salvation from the walls we build to keep us apart, isolated, and fearful. Christ’s conquering death removes these walls, and it becomes our jobs as his followers to plant the seeds of new relationships where once grew hate, fear, jealousy, racism, and white supremacy. Seeds we will cultivate together this year.

As you invite your friends this week to join us as we plant our seeds for reconciliation this Easter, consider how you might spend yourself for the kingdom, with your time and money, by offering, with thanksgiving, a financial gift to Gods ministry here in this place. All of who you are, your time, talent and finances continue to enable transformative relationship’s in our broken world, and that is good news! Alleluia!

Do not be afraid, he is not here- He is RISEN!

Alex+