Dear Friends and Family of RRUMC,
Well, another Easter has come and gone. I hope that you had a great Easter Sunday and that you were truly able to celebrate the fact that the tomb was empty and your heart no longer is.
While I was preparing for my Easter sermon, I was praying about it, stewing over it, worrying about it, and plain old nervous. Obviously, it’s a huge Sunday, but it is also a Sunday where everyone knows the Scripture, and everyone knows what happens. It is not really new news. As I was thinking about it, I came across something my coach and good friend, Rev. Shane Bishop of Christ Church in Fairview Heights, Illinois said. He said that he does not really worry about his Easter message because Jesus has already done all the hard work and all we have to do as clergy is to help people celebrate it. It was so freeing to take on that new approach to Easter.
How did you celebrate Easter? How were you able to realize that the tomb was empty because He came out looking for your heart? As I was thinking about how we celebrate Easter and what that means, I was thinking of another one of the quotes from my coach when he said, “God can bless anything but He can’t bless nothing.”
When I think of Easter, I am thinking of how it was not a one day event. Easter is not a day, it is a change of a whole life. It’s about Jesus’ suffering and death and resurrection. It is all of those things. The resurrection is now our forevermore. It is a new life. Jesus’ risen life is what God is now using to bless all of you on the other side of Easter Sunday morning. It is for that reason that the church keeps giving things to God for His blessing.
As we come into the spring and summer months, we are putting together the first church camping trip, the youth mission trip, our six summer car cruises, Vacation Bible School, a new church softball team, and all of the amazing events and services at our Story Church campus on the west side of Cleveland. It is not about keeping busy, it is about giving God more and more things to bless.
That is what I mean by celebrating Easter as a lifestyle and not just a day. My hope and prayer for all of you is that your Easter celebration just got started on April 9, 2023.
Let’s keep giving stuff to God so He always has something to bless at RRUMC.
Peace and Blessings,
Rev. Dan