Pastor's Notes
Nancy Feniuk Nelson, Pastor

Christ is risen!  Christ is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

For most people, Easter is a day.  Don’t get me wrong – it’s a great day, filled with fun traditions festivities, and food.  But it is just a day.  At best, it’s a weekend.

For us, it’s a different deal.   For us, Easter is a day, a season and a way of life, all rolled into one big, sweet, joyous, resurrection celebration that happens Easter Day, and for 50 days after Easter,  and every single Sunday morning, and for the rest of our lives.   It is at the very center of our lives as Christians, both collectively and individually.

Now maybe this is news to you.  Or maybe you aren’t sure you agree with my assertions.  Maybe Hallmark has had its undue influence on you and after the last marshmallow peep is gone, so is Easter.   Or maybe you’re really uncertain about this whole Easter thing altogether and you’d just as soon stay with Jesus the really good guy instead of Jesus our Risen Lord.  And maybe all these are true and all these are false, depending on the day.   That probably characterizes 99% of us.

But what would life look like for you if you thought of yourself as an “Easter Christian”?  What if Easter was more than a day or even a season …….. what if Easter was a way
of life?    YOUR way of life?    What would change?    What would stay the same? 

When I answer those questions for myself, the words that come are joy, trust, hope, laughter, life, and …. gosh, it’s a hard one to get out of my fingers and onto the page, but …. surrender.  There.  I’ve said it.  Surrender.  That’s not a very popular idea these days.  It certainly isn’t a personal favorite, particularly for a seasoned feminist who isn’t interested in revisiting old battlegrounds.   Yet the truth is I don’t think we can feel joy, or
risk trusting, or venture to hope, or give in to the giggles or live lively until we are willing to surrender our desire and/or our need to control, to understand, to make sense of,
to explain. 

An empty tomb …… a risen Savior …… abundant life.  ..Not for a day,  but a lifetime ….
and every single day of that lifetime and beyond.    It isn’t logical…   or reasonable….
or provable.     Surrender.  

Christ is risen – and we with him.  Alleluia.  Amen.

______________________________________________________________________
COASTLIGHT                                                                                                            APRIL 2008