Letters from the Soul: This Month's Newsletter Column + Holy Week Preaching Schedule

April 2014: "UP AND AT 'EM!"

Dear Church,

Somehow in the arbitrary lottery that always occurs between parents who have to divvy up the parenting tasks, my dad drew the unenviable short straw of being the one responsible for waking me up for school every morning (that is, until he outsourced the job to an alarm clock once I was old enough to know how to operate one).

Some mornings, I'd be up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed half an hour before he'd come get me, but other mornings, I would be sleeping like the dead before coming to at the sound of his voice hollering at me, "TIME TO GET UP! UP AND AT 'EM!"

And thus began my love-hate relationship with waking up in the mornings. It may be unpleasant, but ultimately it is always for the better: it means a new day has begun, and I have been called by God to be a part of it.

More than any other day on the calendar, Easter Sunday represents God shouting to sleeping-like-the-dead us "TIME TO GET UP! UP AND AT 'EM!" On a historical level, God is saying this to a dead Jesus who then is resurrected. But on a theological level, God is saying that to us every time we feel tugged to go to church on Sunday morning, or called to do something wholly generous for someone else. God is telling the dead side of ourselves to come back to life and live as He yearns for us to.

Easter Sunday this year falls on April 20. It is the morning of all mornings when God happens upon us sleeping like the dead and rouses us to awaken, to hear His voice, and to be the faithful, loving people that we are called to be. How will you respond to God's voice rousing you on this Easter Sunday? My hope and prayer for each and every one of you is that you will find yourselves able to respond to that divine voice with new life, like Christ Himself on that fateful day nearly 2,000 years ago!

Happy Easter, my friends!

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Eric

Holy Week Sermons:

Palm Sunday (April 13): "Colt Surfing," Matthew 21:1-11
Maundy Thursday (April 17, 7pm): "Christ Before," Mark 14:17-25, Luke 22:39-53, John 18:28-19:5
Easter Sunday (April 20): "He Goes Ahead of You," Matthew 28:1-10

Pastor Eric will be off on Sunday, April 27.