We all crave to hear a real-life Easter message. Over the last year news stories about mass shootings, the war in Ukraine, the Israeli Conflict was televised nightly and filled the pages of newspapers and internet.

Then in our own circle of family and friends, we hear of death and debilitating illness. Cancer is a perennial fear. Then there are diseases that scare us as they threaten to permanently diminish mental or physical function, and the older we get, increases our risk of being a victim of them.

Included in what brings our desire for an Easter in our lives are the institutions we have treasured over the years that seem to be dying off, church being among them. Yes, we long for resurrection.

Lent is a season of preparation. The way to resurrection life begins in the darkness of winter, in the shadow of human sin and death. Lent is a time for recommitting ourselves to following Jesus as he leads us out from death in the way of the cross. Lent is a beginning… not an end.

Each year during Lent, we revisit Jesus’s forty days in the wilderness where he’s tempted and tested by Satan. Our own wilderness is different from Jesus’, but we too inevitably face testing and tempting. We draw strength on this journey from Jesus, learning from him as we do our best to follow him.

Especially in Lent, Jesus reminds us, if we are to be his followers, we too must take up our cross, deny ourselves, and follow him. Every year this can seem as daunting as ever. Yet as we persist in asking Jesus’ help, we learn again.

Though the way is difficult. It is only in the cross and resurrection of Jesus that the sins, the sufferings, the death of the world is transformed, into a new creation Life.

We are beginning our annual pilgrimage to the Cross of Good Friday. But the day is approaching when Lent will fade, and Easter will provide a much-needed blitz of joy. Unfortunately, bad news will keep coming even after Easter. Illness does not disappear when the women approach the empty tomb. We don’t need a false sense of bliss. We need REAL resurrection, one that visits the life we know.

Friends, the real Easter message proclaims that illness, violence and the trials and tribulations in life is never the last word. They happen all to readily, but God gets the last word. The grace of God is this: We can mess it up, but we can’t blow it! Human beings may act as irresponsibly as the proverbial “Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” but God will always take the pen from our hand and write the final chapter.

Happy Easter! We will see each other in church! In Christian Love, Pastor Sandi