Dear Church Family, 

I was blessed by the wonderful Holy Week services.  Each one of them had a uniqueness and special allure to me.  Gathering together on Resurrection Sunday and feeling the excitement and exuberance that we were able to share together was very encouraging.  I was very proud of the hard work that our youth, musicians, technical, and custodial teams put in to make last week’s events so meaningful. I want to thank all the staff and volunteers who gave of their time and talents over the last several weeks in preparation for our worship services.  

One of my favorite messages of the resurrection comes to us from the Angel.  
Luke 24:1-9
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7  that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise." 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.  ESV

The message of the resurrection has a stirring and motivational impact on the believer; it compels us to tell the message of Christ’s triumph over the grave.  When we consider the hesitancy of the disciples to actually believe Jesus’s extraordinary claim that He would die and rise again (until He actually fulfilled this claim), this miraculous truth should move us to the same action…proclamation.

I encourage each one of us to look inward and be sure that we do not allow the magnitude of the miracle of Jesus’s resurrection to lose its motivational significance.

He is risen!  He is risen, indeed!

Loving you all,
Michael