This Season at Emmanuel…

Hey Everyone—

We are now in the season of Easter Celebration. It’s a time of revisiting the stories surrounding the resurrection of Jesus, exploring the impact the resurrection of Jesus had on his friends and followers, and then considering what the implications of death’s reversal means for us.

Melissa Florer-Bixler and Jan Richardson frame it this way:

In this season we are confronted with a question about the life we want. Because we can only encounter the God who returns from the dead if we are willing to pull up a chair by a tomb.

It’s true, we find ourselves in darkness. It is difficult to see the shape of our future with all the violence, and injustice, and poverty, and power grabbing, brutality, and hatred.

The resurrection of Jesus doesn’t make that go away. Instead, it points us to a graveyard. To the dark place where we are told to expect only death, only devastation. But there we find an empty tomb. There we are greeted and hear our name being called. There the risen Jesus waits for us.

So let this blessing gather itself around you.

Let it give you what you will need for this journey.

You will not remember the words—they do not matter.

All you need to remember is how it sounded when you stood in the place of death and heard the living call your name.

You’re invited to join us on Sunday mornings at 10:30 am for our weekly community gathering. You can also watch the livestream of our service.