If we are to truly worship Christ in Spirit and truth, we must know the Easter story well. My goal as a pastor is to equip our flock to that end. This email went out to our church family today. Let’s be fired up for church on Sunday when we will again turn to Luke’s Gospel. This week we will focus on Luke 13:22-35.
Feb 37, 2014
Dear Church Family:
Last year, one of our people pressed me a bit about why we don’t observe Lent as a church. I gave our rationale, which she accepted. But the lady talking to me then said something that caused me to evaluate our ministries. She said:
I understand if our church doesn’t observe Ash Wednesday and Lent in a Roman Catholic sense. But in our church Easter goes by so quickly that our children don’t learn enough about Easter.
Those words really got my attention! It was criticism sweetly offered and the more I thought about it, the more I realized, emphatically, “This CANNOT be. We can’t have people not really focusing on the Cross.
So this year I determined that we won’t fly through Easter without giving everyone the opportunity to learn and worship the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
Yet, the facts of Easter aren’t easy. Suppose you had never heard the Easter story. Think of how confused you would be. The “Marys” alone are enough to make you lose your mind. There is Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha, Mary Jesus’s mother. And that’s not to mention the Sanhedrin, or Annas, or the places.
In response, I am preparing some basic documents everyone can use to know the Easter story. I will be providing:
- A summary of the people who are part of the Easter story.
- A summary of the places involved in the Easter story.
- A timeline of what happened during Holy Week and strong encouragement to read Andreas Kostenberger, The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived.
- Basic terms we all need to know.
The expectation is not that you would use this material as curriculum. But it is that you would keep it in mind and try and make sure that you know the material and that you teach it to the children as a part of what we are otherwise doing. I have put an asterisk (*) by those points that are especially important.
I will be focusing on this a great deal from the pulpit and through my web site. I pray everyone takes the chance to learn, not to accumulate trivia, but to be transformed by knowing our King – – who died for us.
I am thankful to be your pastor.
Pastor Chris Brauns