April 3, 2021 - Lent Day 40
Festive Easter Sunday Worship, The Resurrection Of Our Lord - April 4 - “Alive & Anew In Living Grace!”
Worship, April 4, 9:30 a.m., in person and live streamed
Easter Worship includes: Festive Music, Children's Message, Holy Communion
If you have already signed up to attend worship, please plan to begin arriving at 9 a.m. to allow time to be safely seated.
If you have not already registered for worship, we are at capacity and we invite you to join us on our facebook page for Lord of Life LIVE as we livestream our Easter Sunday service.
Thank you to one and all who gathered in person or via our live stream efforts, and to those who have volunteered so willingly, to bless our worship on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday. The music, your service, your devotion, the emotions we all share, have truly been blessed by our faithful God and The Holy Spirit, as Christ alone has truly graced us once again!
May each of you and your families and your circle of loved ones, and may the children of God around the world, share in the hope and joy of the celebration anticipated tomorrow in all God has waiting for each of us, in the living grace alone in The Risen Christ!
Easter blessings to each of you, as you stay and keep watch!
Pastor Jamie
Here is today's devotion, as we share Day 40 and our Lenten journey comes to an end:
Stay here and keep watch with me.
The hour has come.
Stay here and keep watch with me.
Watch and pray.
“When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember what that imposter said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead’, and the last deception would be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.” So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.”
Few things in life are as hard as waiting. Waiting for the doctor's report. Waiting for the court to rule. Waiting for the next dollar in hard times. Waiting while being put on hold. Waiting for the birth of a child. Waiting for news of a loved one's condition.
Waiting. Waiting for what will happen next, is not easy. Waiting for what will happen next, even when you have a pretty good idea, is not easy. Things could change. It could take longer than you think. Things might not take place exactly the way you pictured them.
Today is about waiting. About staying here and keeping watch. Even in the midst of details for the celebration you expect to go exactly as you picture tomorrow, we are invited to remember Who is in control of all that will happen next!
Those who loved Jesus took his body and prepared it and put it in the tomb. They did not exactly know what the days ahead held for them. Pilate and the guards thought they were in charge of the details, thought they knew what they were waiting for - rumor, conspiracy, nothing - God in grace alone was waiting to surprise them, to awaken them, one and all, you and me, in Jesus Christ.
May we trust the Lord will stay here and keep watch over us, as we wait to celebrate, as we wait in the midst of all of life's uncertainties, as we wait alone for the glorious return of the crucified and risen Christ!
Let us pray: Jesus today I tell you I do not like to wait. I need you to be with me, so I am reassured I am not alone, while I wait in the midst of difficult times. Through your Holy Spirit, awaken me once again; help me to stay here and to keep watch this Easter weekend. Bless me while I wait for your grace to provide the unexpected. Give me such a faith, that I would simply surrender to you, the One who is in control of it all, while I wait. In your grace alone, I pray, and I believe, while I stay here and keep watch for you. Amen.
