Easter letter 2016

"Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again;
death no longer has dominion over him.
The death he died, he died to sin, once for all;
but the life he lives, he lives to God.
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin
and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

- Romans 6:9-11

The Lent-to-Easter journey is the journey from death to life, from alienation to love, from darkness to light, from despair to hope. During Lent, we reflect upon our own sinfulness in the shadow of Jesus’ suffering and death. We do this not to punish ourselves but to prepare ourselves to celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection on Easter Sunday and, more importantly, to allow the Holy Spirit to form us into more faithful disciples of Jesus in the year ahead.

It is a journey out of sin and into holiness. That’s not easy! Sin, after all, is quite attractive! It is the ultimate self-service!

But Easter calls us to something greater than serving ourselves. Jesus’ Resurrection calls us to put “self” aside and seek God’s ways, which we call holiness. We are called to see others as God sees them, to offer mercy as we have been shown mercy, to forgive as God has forgiven us, to love as we are loved by a God who gave everything to be with us.

This does not mean we simply ignore sin, evil, and injustice; quite the opposite! Easter calls us to recognize sin wherever it exists and to name it as sin. But we are called to offer life in the midst of sin, rather than offering condemnation.

We are called to BE the Lent-to-Easter journey for people in our lives. Through holiness (living as God calls us to live, not according to our own opinions or whatever “feels right”), we are called to lead persons from death to life, from alienation to love, from darkness to light, from despair to hope.

This is what it means to be “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus”. This is the Easter hope for all creation!