We just celebrated Easter – the Resurrection of our Lord – with joyful worship and fellowship. It seems like Easter, like other holidays, comes and goes so quickly. It seems like we spend so much time preparing for it, and then it is gone, just like that.
But, Easter is not just a day – it is an entire season (in fact, the Easter season is actually longer than Lent!) The Easter season is a fifty-day period between Easter Sunday and Pentecost. During this time, we are given space to reflect upon Jesus’ resurrection from the grave, and what implications this has for our spiritual lives. In reading the post-resurrection accounts of Jesus, we see that Easter was not the end of the story. In fact, it is a new beginning to a new kind of life – one that transforms us into becoming the people God created us to be. It is also a commission to carry on the work of God’s kingdom in the power of the Spirit. Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he told his disciples, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” The promised Holy Spirit poured out upon the disciples at Pentecost gave them the power to fulfill this commission. We have this same new life, this same commission, this same Spirit, active in our lives and in the church today. So, let us live into the new life and new beginning Easter brings
Blessings,
Pastor Hilary
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