| A Message From The Pastors |
Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending a luncheon and scholarship award ceremony at which one of the recipients was Carolyn Ballard, a high school senior who attends St. Andrew's. Sponsored by the Church Women United, their purpose in the essay contest that was the basis for the awards was that they wanted to do something to recognize young women who exemplify excellence.
The month of May brings graduations, proms, and other special events for our families and friends. There is a lot of celebrating and joy this month. Brenda and I are very proud of our daughter Beth who will receive her doctorate in Choral Conducting from the University of Miami tomorrow. Many others of you have proud graduates in your families, as well.
This coming Sunday is Mother's Day and next week is the Festival of the Christian Home. Along with the rest of the church staff, I will be praying for all of the families of our church, and especially for our mothers. Those of us fortunate enough to be raised in a loving, Christian environment were taught at an early age how important family relationships are and how these relationships stay with us all through our lives. The bonds and connections of family are critical to our emotional and spiritual growth
Many of you know that last week I spent a few days as a chaperone for the Bloomingdale High School Music Department Spring trip to Festival Disney. It was a busy couple of days with about 300 students. They were a great group of young people but as all of us can often do, they were often pretty much focused on themselves.
As we continue to move through the Easter season, the season of Christ's resurrection, we are going to take the next three Sundays in worship to look in detail at the story in Luke's gospel of the walk to Emmaus by two disciples of Jesus on Easter afternoon.
The next few Sundays we will be looking at how Easter can become a living part of our everyday lives. The first disciples of Jesus made miraculous changes in their lives as soon as they knew that Jesus was alive. And we also can make miraculous changes in our hearts and lives because of God's gift of Easter.
Holy Week is such a special and meaningful time, as we contemplate the sacrifice and death of Christ for our benefit and anticipate the glory of his Resurrection on Easter. My prayer for you and your family is that you will be drawn closer in faith to the cross of Christ and that in his death and resurrection you will find new meaning and power for living.
This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday and we will celebrate with our children singing and a new, exciting Cantata from our Chancel Choir. Join us as we remember Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his willingness to go to a cross for us. As we have been concentrating on the last 24 hours in Jesus' life during Lent, we have been reminded of his great sacrifice, but also of how that sacrifice can help make us better people and better disciples.
The clock is ticking down on our "24 Hours that Changed the World," the study and sermon series for Lent. We have been with Jesus and his disciples during the "Last Supper." We have accompanied them to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed and struggled with God about the suffering that awaited him, and felt the kiss of the betrayer, Judas. This week we continue on that Thursday night with Jesus as he is brought before the religious leaders to stand trial. The tension is mounting as all of the disciples except for Peter flee from Jesus, and even Peter ends up denying him.
We are now three days deep into the season of Lent. This is the 40 days in which we prepare our hearts and minds for the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the time when we focus more on our own repentance, on the things for which we need to ask forgiveness. I hope you will take the time for reflection and repentance during these days and seek the forgiveness of God that we all need.