Pastors' Message for
April 2021
Palm Sunday this year was one that we will always remember in our congregational history. After a full year of being apart from one another due to the quarantine, many of us reconnected in the sanctuary on Palm Sunday, celebrating together the story of Jesus entering the gates of Jerusalem.
It was good to see and talk with all of you. Some of you I haven't seen in a long time. It was good to talk, laugh, and praise our God for keeping our church alive! This will be an Easter that we will not forget. We have all experienced darkness this past year. Many of us have faced hardship being in isolation. Others have experienced challenges seeing close family members and friends who suffered from hardships.
The Holy Week story led all of us on a path to the cross. As I think about the cross, I visualize the worst pain that anyone can experience. Not only is there physical pain, but there is the public humiliation that one faces on that cross. Jesus, as a man, experienced all on the cross. But Jesus the Christ, forgave all of us when He said, "Father forgive them for they do not know."
As Christians, we know that the Friday story is not the end to all. It's what happened three days later that gives us the foundation to our faith. It's the resurrection that becomes the turning point that ultimately shaped what we believe in today. It's the story of Jesus walking with the two men on the Emmaus Road that reminds us that He is with us everyday. It's these incarnational times that gives hope for all of us going into this post-Easter time. It's the moments where we need to stop and realize that Christ continues to break bread with all of us. Because He breaks bread for all of us at that table, I can go and face tomorrow without any fear.
Peace and Grace,
Pastor Holgie
