Letters from the Soul: This Month's Newsletter Column

(plus what's coming up on the blog in terms of sermons!)

“The Young Rebirth”

Dear Church,

I’ll end the suspense now—yes, I will be making cracks about how convenient it is this year that Easter falls on March 31 rather than on April 1—April Fool’s Day.  I mean, can you imagine how that would go today?

“We will now stand and sing our traditional Easter-day hymn, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today”…psyche!  Just kidding, April Fool’s!  He’s not back yet!”  At which point I’m imagining a giant shepherd’s crook appears and yanks the offending pastor offstage.

It’s the ultimate April Fool’s joke on the world, though—this world with all its evils and injustices that put Jesus Christ through two sham trials and promptly executed Him.  It’s God’s way of saying that we cannot, and will not, have the last word when it comes to eternal life.

In other words, it’s why we have the Resurrection.

And I have been so, so heartened at the resurrection I have been seeing here at FCC.  And not just in the by-the-book measures like giving and worship attendance, but by the enthusiasm with which all of you have dove into each new project designed to add life to our church, including this most recent project: restarting a youth group!

That’s right—beginning at noon on Saturday, March 30, and continuing on Saturdays thereafter, we will be hosting an hour-long youth (that is, teenagers) gathering in the two game rooms upstairs in the main building.  I want to thank all of you who have helped revamp those rooms and have stepped up to act as adult sponsors for our new youth group!

This is a major step in the continued rebirth of our vaunted, valuable church community, and I am excited to have it take hold.  Any and all teenagers are warmly invited: Saturdays at noon!

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Eric

Also pasted below are the sermons for March for you to  follow along with, which includes the remaining sermons of our current "Loss, Mercy, and Redemption" sermon series + Palm Sunday and Easter!  Looking forward to it all! -E.A.

March 3: “The Sacred Man,” Luke 15:11-19

March 10: “…And Was Moved,” Luke 15:20-24

March 17: “Two Sons,” Luke 15:25-32

March 24 (Palm Sunday): “Stones of Silence, Stones of Speech,” Luke 19:29-40

March 31 (Easter Sunday): “Idle Tales of Immortality,” Luke 24:1-12