We are ready to celebrate Easter! The risen Christ! The foundation of our faith as Christians! The day is here! Throughout Lent we have been asking to see Jesus, and finally the day has come to look into the tomb and see Jesus, and he is not there! And we rejoice! The prophecy is fulfilled and we celebrate the resurrection. I want to invite you to continue to look for Jesus, even as we move on from that sermon series, even as we move forward in the church year.
For Lent, we studied the stories of Jesus in the lectionary. The lectionary is a set of scriptures that repeat every three years. There is an Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading, a Psalm and an epistle for each Sunday. These weeks after Easter we are going to study 1 John. This epistle looks at themes of love and relationship with God. Scholars are not sure who wrote I, II, III John, but most do not believe it was the John the Apostle.
The themes of love and relationships will be explored each week in April as we look at fellowship, sin, and creation care. (insert scripture and sermon titles from worship planner)
These themes were addressed by the author to the early church and apply to us today. Who are we to each other in the community of faith? That has been so difficult in the past year, but we can see the light coming. How will we experience true fellowship when we are reunited? Sin is a topic that makes us uncomfortable, but it is a discussion we need to have occasionally. Our third topic will be creation care as we celebrate Earth Day.
Easter is not the end of our story, it is the beginning! Happy Easter!