| Author | Message | ||
| Colleentinker (Colleentinker) |
Looking back over the past weekend, I realize that there are certain things about Easter and the Passion Week that I'm beginning to experience each year, and I'm liking it. In fact, I think God grants us certain blessings that he makes "fresh" each time we experience them. One of the cluster of highlights for me is the Good Friday service. We sing worship songs reflecting on the crossóalways something to start me crying!óand we celebrate communion. Also, there's always a baptism on Godd Friday. This year over 30 people were baptized. Each one read/told his/her testimony, and that was simply holy. Many of the testimonies were deeply felt and personal, and the sense of those people experiencing God in a life-changing way made me feel like praising Him myself. One man who was baptized with his wife told how he experienced God literally changing his life and attitudes this past year. He said, "I would love to tell you about Him if you're not sure. After this is over I'll be wearing something dry and standing in the courtyard. Just come and ask me!" The second thing I experiencedóand I realized this year that I've experienced this same thing for the past couple of Easters, and it convinced me that it's not just a function of Easter being "new" to meóis a sense of poignancy and sadness and hope and joy on Saturday night as the evening wears on. I realize that I am actively thinking about what happened outside Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, but as I think about what it must have been like for the disciples and those who loved Jesus to know he was buried, they must have felt hopeless and/or confused. This year I went outside, and (since this is So. California) there was a clear sky with a nearly full moon. I thought about how it must have been (as if I could even guess!) in heaven that night before Easter. God knew Jesus would come back to life in just a few hours. The world lay in bleak despair, but God knew that something was about to happen that would literally change reality FOREVER. There was such a sense of hope and impending joy. By sunup the next day, life would be restored to Earth. By sunup on Sunday, the power and authority of Satan would be broken. Death would no longer be the enemy. It really was awesom to think in retrospect about what really happened that night. Easter, of course, is its own special joy now. Church was wonderful; the singing, the Easter sermon, the Easter drama about new birth, and the Sonlight "Worship in Motion" team "dancing" (acting?) to the song, "Alleluia, Chirst Jesus Is Born" with its lyrics about Jesus providing us a way to be reborn. If you're looking for something to do on Easter after dinner, try showing the Visual Bible's video of the book of Matthew. It's powerful. All in all, I am amazed at the depth and richness Easter and it's surrounding days brings after so many years during which it seemed dry and pointlessóa quasi-holiday! I do praise God for Jesus. He is risen! Colleen | ||
| Doug222 (Doug222) |
Colleen, I know what you mean about the baptisms. One of the things I really look forward to at the church I attend is the testimonies associated with baptisms. They are so personal and inspiring. Throughout the year, they will periodically have someone get up and give their testimony as well. I realize that I never heard life changing testimonies like the ones I hear now. I don't know how many times I have sat in my seat saying, wow, someone has experienced some of the same things I have. It is such a refreshing deaprture from "testimonies" about how "I came to the truth." It is an awesome reminder that we serve a God who is still in the miracle working business. In His Grace Doug | ||
| Dennis (Dennis) |
Sylvia and I just celebrated our second Easter. We attended the Friday night communion service at the First Evangelical Free Church here in Lincoln, Nebraska. This service was most special and meaningful to us. With a hammer in his hand, a young man sang "Who nailed Him there? Come face me like a man; then I turned and saw the hammer in MY hand--I NAILED HIM THERE." Utilizing professional dramatics under spotlight, he threw the hammer down and concluded his rendition in a kneeling posture of prayer while he wept audibly. I was not the only one with tears. After all, Sabra said that it is okay for grown men to cry in church. On Resurrection Sunday, our senior pastor delivered a powerful gospel message amid lilies, draped wooden Cross, colorful lighting, and music. With about 1200 worshippers weekly, all the services are actually performances as well. The services are carefully rehearsed on the rostrum on Wednesday nights. Our church stresses the "priesthood of all believers," so the laity is very much involved in everything. Sometimes, when a whole family is baptized, the father baptizes his children after the pastor has baptized him and his wife. There are about 200 people that consistently provide the various ministries in our church. We have become a regional church (meaning that people come from outside of the immediate community and city). Sadly, for most our lives, we missed these annual blessings that the Easter season brings--a refreshing spiritual oasis. By our downplaying the special emphasis of Christ on Christmas and Easter in our past, we were indeed deprived of a rich, meaningful, relational experience with Jesus Christ. Truly, the Lord will redeem our past. He called us out of Adventism in just the right niche of time. Otherwise, while we were still enslaved in legalism, our hearts may not have been ready and willing to respond to the Holy Spirit's promptings toward freedom in Christ. Isn't it wonderful how the Lord speaks to us in just the right way and in just the right time? In awe of Calvary, Dennis J. Fischer | ||
| Sabra (Sabra) |
We had an awesome experience this Sunday. Our pastor doesn't like the word Easter and preferred to refer to the day as "The Glorious Resurrection Day" The music was so powerful and they had one solo where about 15 banners came in while the lights were dimmed. The banners had different names for Jesus, Saviour, Redeemer, Prince of Peace, it was beautiful. People were standing and clapping and crying and raising hands all during the service and at one point they called a Dr. (I think someone was slain in the Spirit but the Baptists aren't used to that) ha  The church was so packed, there wasn't an empty seat anywhere and people were sitting in the hallways. The message was so powerful, the pastor detailed the darkness that fell over the land and the veil being ripped in two and it was so wonderful to hear the true message and meaning of the cross preached with such emotion. When my mom called to wish us a happy Easter and seemed disappointed that we didn't color eggs and told of their routine day with no celebration of Our Lord's glorious resurrection, it was so disheartening. If they could only know this grace. Sabra | ||
| Loneviking (Loneviking) |
Sabra, I know the feeling. Easter, since leaving, has become a time I really look forward to. It's not just a ho-hum day to hunt Easter eggs, it's not some 'pagan' holiday to avoid. Easter is all about the cross---the birth and renewl that the cross promises to bring about. A realization hit me in church this last Sunday that was so powerful I know it had to be from God---that this, the Cross and Christs' death, is and should be the center of our worship, our theology and our testimony and is something utterly lacking in the SDA church. The emphasis used to be on 'Sabbath', the 'I.J.', 'Close of Probation' etc..., but now in the church I attend it is always on the cross and what a difference that makes in ones' spiritual life. The same is true of communion. By limiting communion to once a quarter, SDA's again have the focus off of the cross. Now, each Sunday as I take communion, I am reminded of the sacrifice made for me and that I am renewing a covenant relationship with my God. Our Pastor brought up that the Lords' supper is not just about remembrance either for it points forward to a time in heaven when we ALL celebrate together this feast. It is both a rememberance and a promise----a promise that He will indeed return. The music was just indescribable this last Sunday. I belong to a Church of Christ where the singing is a-capella and there is nothing like hearing singing, in tune and with the harmony parts of a song like 'Majesty', or 'O Worship the King'. All in all, Easter service was a thrilling and refreshing time for me---such a difference from what I once knew! | ||
| Colleentinker (Colleentinker) |
LonevikingóI know what you mean about the cross being the center. It really has to be the center of all worship and proclamation, or we're observing a "different gospel"! Our pastor concluded a series of sermons just before Easter from 2 Samuel which he entitled "The Lord of the Kings". The amazing thing was that as he preached about the kings of Israel, he always ended up talking about Christ and the gospel. Richard said, "After this series, I'm not worried anymore about sermons being from the Old Testament!" It really is moving for me to read all these posts from all of us who are geographically far apart, yet each of us experienced the same awe and joy and reverence and amazement on Easter! Praise God for the Holy Spirit who makes us one! Colleen |
